This project seeks to address and respond to several problematic issues facing the communities
in the upper Rio Grande Valley. Approximately 4,000 citizens reside in this area of buffer zone to
the BJCMNP, and all are considered ?marginalized? due to recent decades of failing
agricultural markets and degrading infrastructure. Whereas many households are choosing to
relocate from their ancestral lands, members of BPFA continue in efforts to rebuild and
strengthen natural and cultural resources within these communities. BPFA responds with
progressive, sustainable techniques for reducing costs of living and for protecting the
environment with sound land management practices. This project seeks to empower the
surrounding communities to realize the resources that do exist in their midst, to utilize them and to
protect and preserve them for future generations.

This project seeks to generate sustainable livelihood development in two (2) ways--through
reduction of energy costs and increased marketability at Ambassabeth Eco-Lodge and through
revenue generated by the orchard section of reforested lands

This project seeks to empower local community groups and community members toward selfreliance
and individual and household behavioural change in terms of land use and energy
dependence.
A long-term outcome would be a multi-level shift toward sustainable land management
practices, as well as promotion of clean, renewable energy technologies.