GEM SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES NETWORK
Capacity-Building through Networking
The GEM Sustainable Communities Network links small- to medium-sized communities around the world. The purpose of the network is assist communities in building their capacity to initiate and maintain sustainability efforts and to identify and apply best management practices in the sustainable use and conservation of their natural resources by learning from successful examples from partners throughout the world.
Featured publication: GEM Case Studies in Community Sustainability
This 2009 publication describes efforts in six communities around the world where local residents are creating a sustainable future.
The Network program currently is focused on:
- developing the network of communities to facilitate the exchange of ideas, experiences, and expertise related to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating sustainability projects;
- testing GEM’s Capacity Building Model for Sustainable Community Development in communities with measured success at implementing sustainability initiatives;
- applying relevant elements of the GEM model in appropriate communities.
GEM staff and volunteers help villagers in Comaltepec, Mexico, build a greenhouse in January 2006. See more photos and learn more about the project.
Featured partners of the GEM Sustainable Communities Network
PERU
Ccachupata
The Quechua-speaking Eco-Village of Ccachupata is a sustainability project near Cusco in Andean Peru. The project was initiated by the people of Ccachupata in cooperation with the Center for Construction with Earth and Sustainable Development (Centro de Estudios para la Edificación con Tierra y el Desarrollo Sostenible - CEETyDeS).
Through expanding irrigation, composting, invative greenhouses, and marketing of organic produce in the Cusco market, Ccachupata has seen its agricultural production increase three-fold and its farm income double since 1990.
MEXICO
Sierra Norte
Working with GEM’s partner in Oaxaca, the NGO Estudios Rurales y Asesoría Campesina (ERA), the GEM Sustainable Communities Network is focused on
- watershed management
- biological inventories
- land use planning and mapping
- ecosystem restoration
- nature trail interpretation for ecotourism
- non-timber forest products marketing
- ecosystem services valuation
GEM has developed training manuals for community involvement.
The manuals are in Spanish and intended for use in the Sierra Norte communities but may be valuable elsewhere as well. NOTE: THESE ARE PDF DOCUMENTS AND WILL OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW.
- AGRICULTURA SUSTENTABLE EN COMUNIDADES DE LA SIERRA NORTE DE OAXACA
- CAPTACION DE AGUA DE LLUVIA COMO ALTERNATIVA PARA AFRONTAR LA ESCASEZ DEL RECURSO
- ¡MÁS CLARO NI EL AGUA!
- MANUAL BÁSICO PARA EL CULTIVO DE TRUCHA ARCO IRIS (Oncorhynchus mykiis)
- MANUAL DE SERVICIOS AMBIENTALES
- MANUAL PARA EL MANEJO DE RESIDUOS SÓLIDOS
- MANUAL PARA LA MODIFICACIÓN DE SENDEROS INTERPRETATIVOS EN ECOTURISMO
Read how GEM is successfully helping Sierra Norte residents improve water quality, in an effort that has potential to serve as a model elsewhere in Mexico, and how the GEM-TIES team has helped a small Zapotec community establish a community water group to develop strategies to clean up and manage its water sources. Working with Mexican graduate-level extension specialists and local residents, GEM is helping entrepreneurs develop business plans in order to foster sustainable development in the Sierra Norte.
View a poster highlighting this collaborative project that Monterrey Tech presented to the U.S. Ambassador on a recent visit to Monterrey.
GEM TIES collaborator at the Autonomous University of Chapingo, Prof. Edgardo Hernandez-Vazquez, has authored and facilitated publication of an excellent piece in his university’s Tzapinco Magazine, February 2006 issue, titled: Se inicia proyecto cooperativo TIES de Capacitacion en Manejo Inegral de Cuencas."
