The Bio-Itzá Association is an indigenous organization of the Mayan Itzá people, located in the Municipality of San José in northern Guatemala, which works to involve local communities and incorporate Mayan cultural traditions in the conservation of regional biodiversity. Legally incor-porated in 1991, the association’s first major achievement came in 1998, when it was granted usufruct ownership of a 36-square kilometer area of forest, the Indigenous Com-munity Bio-Itzá Reserve – the first indigenous community reserve to be established in Guatemala.

The association brings together 60 member families and focuses on three project areas: biodiversity conservation, through the sustainable management of the Bio-Itzá Re-serve; development of sustainable micro-enterprises; and educational programmes addressing environmental and social issues that utilize indigenous Mayan knowledge.