Indigenous people are often the most affected by climate
change due to their reliance on the land and traditional way of life. In the
Northwest of Guatemala, the Mayan Mam are an indigenous group who suffer as
climate variability affects the ecosystem they rely on. Events such as erratic rainfall and droughts,
hurricanes, and landslides have life-changing impacts on infrastructure, crops,
and water resources.

The Green Forest Borders program is a community-based
adaptation program in Guatemala, supported by the United Nations Development
Program. It provides training, capacity building workshops, resources, and
technical expertise to reduce communities’ vulnerability to climate
change. Under the program, communities
develop an action plan to help restore deforested regions that can reduce
landslides, protect and stabilize water sources, and establish agro-forest
regions. In the case of the Mayan-Mam community they built a nursery for
deforestation replanting and economic income, organic composte facilities, soil
conservation structures, and received training in low environmental impact
agriculture.

In working with this community there were several unique
lessons learned that can apply more broadly to development programs for
indigenous communities world wide. These
include:

• Building tailored training for low-literacy
  audiences. This program included training on climate change, adaptation, and
  mitigation. However, the Mayan Mam
  community has low-literacy rates (around 50%) so their initial knowledge on climate
  change was low. Specialized resources
  and workshops had to be designed to provide training that they would
  accept. The Mayan Mam were incredibly
  receptive though; they were eager to learn sustainable practices.
• Strengthening organization and administration
  capacities. Part of this program was local management by the Mayan Mam. To
  facilitate this, the program established a ‘board’ of individuals. This board developed monitoring and tracking
  metrics to help the program meet its goals while providing local ownership and
  leadership.