Skip to Content

*Estimated carbon sequestration is 20 kg of CO2e per tree accumulated over five years, based on low estimates of dry and humid tropical growth rates from global restoration databases.

Actual carbon impact of each Priceless Planet Coalition restoration project will be assessed after five years based on data collected throughout the monitoring process.

Restoring critical landscapes within one of the world’s most biodiverse regions

The Oaxaca-Chiapas flagship landscape, localized in the southeast of Mexico, contains 70% of the biodiversity of North America — ranking it among the five most important regions in the world for its mega-diversity. The three landscapes (Sierra Madre, Sierra Sur and Oaxaca-Chiapas coastal landscapes) comprise 2,618,250 ha, in which 17,366 ha are identified as a restoration opportunity under the Priceless Planet Coalition™ program. This will contribute to the conservation of at least ten Protected Natural Areas and preserve fifteen priority species of animals and plants facing varying degrees of threat, through the reforestation of buffer areas and the establishment of sustainable production systems.

Restoration methods

Active tree planting
The planting of seedlings over an area with little or no forest canopy to meet specific goals.

Assisted natural regeneration
The exclusion of threats (i.e., grazing, fire, invasive plants) that had previously prevented the natural regrowth of a forested area from seeds already present in the soil or from natural seed dispersal from nearby trees.

Enrichment planting
The strategic reestablishment of key tree species in a forest that is ecologically degraded due to lack of certain species, without which the forest is unable to naturally sustain itself.

Agroforestry
The intentional mixing and cultivation of woody perennial species (trees, shrubs, bamboos) alongside agricultural crops in a way that improves the agricultural productivity and ecological function of a site.

Silvopasture
The intentional mixing and cultivation of woody perennial species (trees, shrubs, bamboos) on pasture land where tree cover was absent in a way that improves the agricultural productivity and ecological function of a site for continued use as pasture.

Applied nucleation/tree islands
A form of enrichment planting where trees are planted in groups, clusters or even rows, dispersed throughout an area, to encourage natural regeneration in the matrix between the non-planted areas.

Tree species

Tropical forests:

  • Manjack (Cordia L.)
  • Leadtrees (Leucaena)
  • Trumpet trees (Tabebuia)
  • Mahogany (Swietenia)
  • Snakewood (Brosimum)
  • Cacao (Theobroma cacao)
  • Spanish cedar (Cedrela)

Coniferous forest:

  • Mexican white pine (Pinus ayacahuite)
  • Mexican yellow pine (Pinus oocarpa)
  • Guatemalan fir (Abies guatemalensis)
  • Montezuma pine (Pinus montezumae)

Mesophilic forest:

  • Oak (Quercus spp)
  • Ocotea salvinii
  • Horse sugar (Symplocos hartwegii)
  • Ocotea helicterifolia
  • Dragon’s blood (Croton lechleri)
  • Mexican oak (Quercus acutifolia)
  • Mexican bay leaf (Litsea glaucescens)

Tropical dry forest:

  • Leadtrees (Leucaena)
  • Forest lilac (Gliricidia sepium)
  • West Indian elm (Guazuma ulmifolia)

Mangroves:

  • Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans)
  • Avicennia bicolor
  • Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle)
  • Button mangrove (Conocarpus erectus)
  • White mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa)
  • Arabica coffee (Coffea arabiga var. Typica)