In 2000, the Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda obtained the approval of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for a full-size project titled Biodiversity Conservation in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve. GEF is providing a leverage fund of $6.7 million U.S. for this seven-year project, while the Grupo Ecológico is generating an additional $25 million in co-financing and associated financing in cooperation with a wide range of project partners.

The project’s objective is the conservation and regeneration of the extraordinary eco-diversity found in this Reserve. The project establishes a model for co-management of a protected natural area by the civil society and federal government, with support from national and international organizations.

Several actors participate in the implementation of this project, including the Grupo Ecológico, National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP) of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the Reserve’s management office, the Integrated Ecosystem Management of Three Priority Ecoregions project, Bosque Sustentable, A.C. and the local representation of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In addition, a complex network of governmental agencies, national and international foundations and financial bodies, social networks, universities and research institutions, non-governmental organizations and local communities play an active and participatory role.