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Donors like you helped these ocean farmers grow stronger as they work toward sustainable oyster aquaculture. Thank you!
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Last month, with your support, the women’s oyster farming cooperative participated in a series of three important workshops in their home village in Pochote, Nicaragua. Together, the women developed a budget and work plan for the next year, renewed efforts to strengthen cooperative governance, and improved coordination of oyster monitoring duties.
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The oyster farmers also received a boost thanks to a team-building workshop with Angie Gerst (see In Gratitude article below). During the meeting, they played games, discussed their strengths and ambitions, and identified the immediate challenges that, with your help, they will meet.
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Oyster farming can be a profitable and sustainable venture that supports families and helps improve the health of coastlines. However, this industry is not easy. Success requires patience, technical support, trial and error, good coordination, and more.
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But your donations helped keep these women united in their important but difficult venture. Thank you for your support, and thank you also to the PRBB Foundation for supporting the oyster women and their dream of profitable, sustainable aquaculture.
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Thank you for strengthening rural women working for their families and the ocean!
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This month we would like to recognize Nohemí Velásquez Morales, our administrative director in Nicaragua. We were fortunate to have her join our team in 2016. In her role, Nohemí helps to ensure transparency and accountability in our program activities. She also coordinates team logistics and in-country nonprofit compliance. We appreciate her can-do attitude and her willingness to go the extra mile to assist team members.
Nohemí has developed a passion for conservation and enjoys every opportunity to connect with our conservation programs on the ground. She makes quarterly site visits to meet with community rangers and field staff, where she reviews financial procedures with the staff and checks on the status of equipment and supplies. Nohemí also lends her expertise to the communities as needed. For example, she supports Junior Rangers outings and celebrations.
We are very fortunate to have Nohemí on our team, and appreciate her dedication and hard work. Thank you to our donors for supporting her critical position!
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We are deeply grateful to Angie Gerst (above center) for visiting our projects and volunteering for us in El Salvador this winter. She is a Canadian ESL teacher who is also a longtime Paso Pacífico volunteer and donor, having visited Nicaragua in 2014, 2015, and 2016. After meeting up with our US team members in California this January, she traveled south to reunite with friends in Nicaragua and volunteer in El Salvador.
In addition to meeting with Paso Pacífico, community members and program participants, Angie advised our Junior Ranger program, led the Pochote oyster women's cooperative in team-building workshops, and interviewed a group of women in Eastern El Salvador about opportunities for nature-based solutions that provide economic benefits.
Thank you, Angie, for traveling on our behalf and sharing your expertise and friendship with our communities! Thank you also to partners Observadores de Aves de Oriente (with Angie above), FUNZEL, CIRENAS, and Sociedad Salvaje for taking the time to visit or work with Angie.
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This month, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its assessment on climate change. Hundreds of experts contributed to the report, which goes in depth on what is happening to our climate. If you are not ready to read the 85-page report, you can read six key points as summarized by the World Wildlife Fund.
The climate system is in code red, but the report also emphasizes that we still have solutions. To reduce global emissions by 43% during this decade, we can transition our economies and build a movement to restore natural habitats. You are part of that movement through your support for Paso Pacífico.
Healthier ecosystems can absorb more carbon and help communities be more resilient to the impacts of changing weather patterns. As the IPCC report emphasizes, "nature is our ally" in the fight to save our planet as we know it.
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Thank you for any and all of your efforts to mitigate climage change!
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PARTNERS MAKE IT POSSIBLE
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Forests can provide a habitat for wildlife and native bees while also helping mitigate climate change. Thanks to our partner Offset Alliance, we are seeing the growth and vigor of young trees planted over the last three years through Trees for Bees.
When people buy the gift of #TreesforBees, they plant native trees with us and help farmers to maintain reforestation areas. Our work with Offset Alliance helps to reforest watersheds that provide safe passage for wildlife and water for communities. In addition to selling quality verified carbon offsets to the public, Offset Alliance donates a portion of its profits to charity. We are grateful they chose Paso Pacífico for their philanthropic gifts and business partnerships.
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Thank you to all the photographers who contributed photos used in this e-newsletter. These include but are not limited to Angie Gerst, Hal Brindley, Orlando Jarquín, and current Paso Pacífico rangers Jairo Coronado and Yorlin Vargas.
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