Ixpiyakok Women’s Association (Associación de Mujeres Ixpiyakok - ADEMI) brings together 30 groups of Maya women in Chimaltenango to improve local food security and nutrition through organic family farms and seed banks. Originally launched as a credit and savings programme for local women, the association has expanded into health and education service provision, as well as advocacy for women’s rights.

It is increasingly realised that mitigation and adaptation should not be pursued independently of each other but as complements. Integrating mitigation and adaptation into climate change concerns is not a completely new idea in the African Sahel where the local populations in this region, through their indigenous knowledge systems, have developed and implemented extensive mitigation and adaptation strategies that have enabled them to reduce their vulnerability to past climate variability and change.

The climate change adaptation project discussed herein aids in enhancing the long term viability of the Mesoamerican reef's diverse ecosystems through lobbying for the incorporation of sound management and conservation practices that consider both the potential and actual impacts of climate change in combination with other direct anthropogenic threats (pollution, over-fishing, habitat degradation, etc.) on coastal ecosystem health, thereby promoting sustainable livelihoods and natural disaster protection to dependent communities and sectors.