What is this mixture?

Pot being stirred

© ECOLOGIC DEVELOPMENT FUND

It’s fertilizer!

This fertilizer is made by fermenting locally gathered corn, bananas, and horse manure. It also helps acclimate the seedlings to the local ecosystem. It’s one of many Indigenous efforts to restore Guatemala’s old-growth forest.

Guatemala’s old-growth Totonicapán Forest protects—among other things—ocelots, armadillos, and freshwater springs. But illegal logging, plant disease, and fires threaten the forest and the Indigenous Maya K’iche people who rely on it for their daily needs.

Since 2021, WWF’s Russell E. Train Education for Nature (EFN) Program has sponsored EcoLogic Development Fund, a nonprofit that supports Indigenous efforts to restore the forest. During EFN’s 30th anniversary celebrations, EcoLogic and Maya K’iche partners welcomed EFN alumni to see and learn from their process.

See photos of other Indigenous efforts that are helping restore Guatemala's Totonicapán Forest.

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