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San Jose de Cusmapa, home to one our of our five children’s centers, is the highest pueblo in Nicaragua, located at 3900 feet (1200m) above sea level in the pine-covered mountains of Northwest Nicaragua, 6 miles from the Honduran border. The town’s relative isolation has limited forest exploitation in some areas, and a forest reserve was recently established to the west and north of the municipality. Nevertheless, sporadic harvesting and sawmilling over past decades, particularly during the civil war, resulted in the exportation of much of the local forest resources as raw logs or sawn lumber. Long-term economic benefits to local inhabitants were limited while short term benefits were not sustainable.
In an effort to counteract these trends and strengthen the local culture of forest stewardship, Fabretto has been actively working for the last decade in Cusmapa to develop capacity for capturing maximum value from the area’s forest resource in a sustainable program. The aim of Fabretto’s forestry program is to develop a value value-added chain of economic enterprises that will provide long-term social, economic, and ecologic benefits to the Cusmapa community. This value added chain includes:
- Reforestation of previously cleared areas,
- Maintenance of a mature forest base of Oocarpa pine, almost 1,000 acres of which belong to the Fabretto organization,
- Operation of a WoodMizer sawmill and lumber drying facilities
- Management of a Carpentry Workshop
- Sponsorship of a Women’s Pine Needle Basket Weaving Cooperative.
Together, these enterprises are scaled to best benefit the local human capacity and the natural resources in the area. Fabretto’s success in this endeavor to date has resulted in the award of a Forest Certification and Chain-of-Custody Certification by the Forest Stewardship Council. And finally, a partnership with the Rainforest Alliance in Nicaragua, will allow for the continued development of these programs with expert advice and counsel coming from this very well regarded international organization.
Fabretto’s Forestry Project, Carpentry Shop, and Women’s Basket Cooperative are successfully developing employment opportunities in the impoverished community of Cusmapa, Nicaragua, by helping in the creation and development of profitable micro-enterprises that benefit the environment as well as the people.
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The Fabretto Children's Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, tax ID #36-3894824.
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