EjidoVerde.jpg
Ejido Verde is a mass-reforestation project structured as a private-public-Native initiative, an innovative form of social enterprise and community forestry that will benefit the most marginalized rural families, sustainably alleviate poverty, and improve the environment—in addition to providing a key raw material for an established industry.

Ejido verde es una iniciativa de reforestación masiva que, desarrollado a través de nuestro modelo, crea fuentes sostenibles de trabajo para las comunidades más marginadas de México e impulsa una de las industrias más vulnerables del país, la resinera.

El proyecto está estructurado de tal manera que reúne al sector privado, al público y a distintas comunidades indígenas de México. Es un innovador modelo que combina emprendimiento social, la reforestación del medio ambiente y la integración y conservación del patrimonio nacional.

El propósito del proyecto es trabajar de manera conjunta con las comunidades locales para un mejor manejo de la tierra, impulsar la protección del medio ambiente e incentivar la economía local para que más familias obtengan una fuente de ingresos digna y sustentable para las futuras generaciones.

Background[edit | edit source]

Ejido Verde is building a new kind of regenerative forestry company, guided by principles of reciprocity, generosity, and innovation. They're growing millions of fast-planting trees, to create both holistic community wealth and return on investment. They're inviting an array of partnerships that can propel regenerative principles in business while reinventing wealth and well-being among rural and indigenous communities of Michoacán, Mexico.

There's also a heroic, inspiring origin story here in how Ejido Verde exists because women stood up to drug lords.[1][2] In fact, in defending their forest from armed loggers, the villagers of Cheran, led by local women, also kicked out police and politicians at the same time.[3] The fact that this revolution was women-led reflects indigenous cultures being traditionally matriarchal.

Definitions[edit | edit source]

Ejido: Communal land on the outskirts of a town, destined for common services, such as a cattle pasture.
System of distribution and possession of land institutionalized after the Mexican Revolution, granting land for use by a group of people.
Verde: Green.

Project goals[edit | edit source]

Ejido Verde's goals adhere to a triple bottom-line:

  • Viable ROI (return on investment) [ profit ]
  • Community wealth & well-being for marginalized rural and indigenous communities [ people ]
  • Carbon offsets to reverse global warming through tree planting [ planet ]

Impact[edit | edit source]

  1. Attractive alternative long-term investment opportunity in real assets
  2. Solution to wealth inequality and poverty: creates 12,000 direct and permanent jobs, and raises day-labor wages up to five times the current rate
  3. Regeneration: expands land use by 2000 acres/year, and from 85 pines/ha (hectare) to 850 (24,000 ha, total); carbon negative, reducing greenhouse gas; rebuilding soil and restoring watershed; healing the reciprocity of people and planet
  4. Inclusion of indigenous, first-peoples in pursuing undervalued and overlooked investment opportunities in a sustainable, just world

Design[edit | edit source]

Ejido Verde figured out how to invest in rural indigenous agricultural communities which don't have title to land. Along with its triple-bottom-line approach, it is also dynamically blending partnership with multiple funding sectors

  • nonprofit (mission)
  • government (mandate) and
  • commercial (margin)
  • crowdfunding (kiva, for example)

Moving beyond sustainability, it is a global innovator in doing business for good. The project is not abstract, theoretical research, but is, rather, already operational, applying core concepts of Regenerative Design in action. Its viability is thus available for real-world assessment across various criteria and metrics — and contributes to a growing knowledge base for vital, regenerative ways of putting capital to work. It can not only scale, but also be iterated elsewhere, applicable in diverse situations.

Investment Opportunity[edit | edit source]

The economic value of non-wood, non-timber forest projects require a longer-than-average ROI (return on investment) time scale. This is only natural. It takes pine trees about 10 years to produce a viable amount of resin. Yet pine resin (aka "pitch") has a myriad of commercial uses,[4] including:

  • Medicine
  • Food stabilizer (as in Gatorade and Coca-Cola)
  • Fragrances; incense
  • Glue
  • Solvent (as in turpentine)
  • Varnish

Pine resin is found in over 120 things, binding ink on paper, joining leather shoes to rubber soles. Useful to 12 industries, its market spans 22 countries.

The project is profitable and scalable, needful and impactful, and needs committed investors[5][6] with long-term thinking, open to engaging in new ways of thinking about supply chain, distribution of equity, social justice, environmental healing.[7]

Mexican and US pine-resin industry leaders have made anchor investments. The company is now reaching out to prospective investors, philanthropic institutions, and crowdfunders. With $11.4M committed toward their $35M capitalization goal, early revenue streams established, and future purchase contracts secured, they seek smart growth, together with value-aligned partners.

Wealth Creation[edit | edit source]

Since 2009, Ejido Verde has planted 4,000 acres, moving toward their goal of restoring 24,000 acres of degraded lands with native, resin-producing pine trees. This will:

  • generate $1B in wealth over the next 30 years (with 95% going to the community and 5% to repay loans)
  • propel 12,000 rural and indigenous families into the middle class
  • elevate the Mexican pine-resin industry, to lead as a global market as large as cacao.

Contact[edit | edit source]

Shaun Paul
CEO | Ejido Verde | Morelia, Michoacán |
+1-617-515-0070 | +52-443-312-0448 |
shaun@ejidoverde.com

About This Wiki[edit | edit source]

Appropedia is a site for collaborative solutions in sustainability, poverty reduction and international development through the use of sound principles and appropriate technology and the sharing of wisdom and project information. It is a wiki, a type of website which allows anyone to add, remove, or edit content. Registration is encouraged but not required for contributors. As such, this wiki is open to third-party verification. This entry is also a node of a larger learning platform[8] in-progress for knowledge creation and appropriate action.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Ejido Verde exists because women in Cheran stood up to drug lords. Medium. August 5, 2017.
  2. Women Kicked Out Organized Crime in This Mexican Town: The people of Cherán haven't had a single slaying or serious crime in six years Bloomberg [photo essay], by Marie Monteleone & Eric Martin. August 11, 2017
  3. Cheran: The town that threw out police, politicians and gangsters by Linda Pressly, BBC News. October 13, 2016.
  4. Pine resin & its primary products from Pinus spp.] Gum Naval Stores: Turpentine & Rosin from Pine Resin. Non-Wood Forest Products 2. Rome: FAO, 1995
  5. One-Page Investor Introduction Ejido Verde
  6. Summary for family office investment Medium. Kevin Jones & Shaun Paul. Aug 22, 2017
  7. Ejido Verde: Protecting a Supply Chain While Empowering Indigenous Communities Sustainable Brands. by Nithin Coca. June 20, 2017.
  8. Wiki, from Peeragogy.org

External Links[edit | edit source]

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Created October 9, 2017 by Commoner
Modified June 8, 2023 by StandardWikitext bot
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