Izabal Agro Forest

Our philosophy is to manage our companies with the highest environmental standards, we believe that business economics and ecology should be complementary.

IAF is a private company in operation since 2014 that provides advisory, project development and property management services in the areas of climate-smart agroforestry, regenerative farm and forest systems, plantation forestry, and landscape restoration. Many projects combine various of these elements and seek to balance the generation of both natural and financial capital. Projects are developed to be financially viable, delivering a return targeted to each investor’s mandate. IAF’s geographic focus is Guatemala. Its partners have extensive experience throughout Central and South America and have worked with a diversity of institutional and other private investors.

Sahila river in Izabal Guatemala.

Community projects

Community forest management is a crucial tool in climate change mitigation and adaptation. By involving local communities in the stewardship of forests, it promotes sustainable land use, reduces deforestation, and enhances forest health, all of which increase carbon sequestration. Healthy forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing CO₂ from the atmosphere, and community-led practices ensure these forests remain intact and resilient over time.

At IAF we believe that local management may effectively support biodiversity, protects water resources, and strengthens the social and economic resilience of communities, enabling them to better cope with the adverse effects of climate change and poverty.

Since 2014 we have worked with communities, doing our best to establish agro-forestry parcels, reforest mangroves and important fisheries, reforest natural forests, find markets and learn from specialists in Western and Indigenous Science.

Provide the flexibility to steward dynamic landscapes and navigate uncertainties under rapidly changing conditions.Managing for static landscape conditions
has been ineffective with respect to changing disturbance. Especially under climate change, high-severity fire, drought, and insect disturbances cannot be prevented in areas prioritized for mature and old-growth forest conservation. All landscapes, even designated reserves, are dynamic.

The disciplines of forest ecology and management have matured over the past decades, both acquiring a much greater understanding of the interconnectedness of forests with water, carbon cycles, plants and animals, habitats, and human communities. Strong evidence also underscores the importance and irrepressible dynamism of forest landscapes and the role of disturbances in shaping patterns, composition, and ecological memory (Falk et al. 2022; Hessburg et al. 2019; Peterson 2002).

Nicolasa Morales Chiroy harvesting Damask

Often, particularly in community projects, a silvo-pastoral approach is most easily accepted by communities that have always depended on livestock

Industrial & corporate clients

Large-scale forest management is also crucial tool in climate change mitigation and adaptation. We believe in informed and proven poly-cultures.

Izabal Agro-Forest was created to manage sustainable tropical agro-forestry projects in Central America.

IAF’s research and silvicultural knowledge is based on over 20 years of experience in forest management. Since 1992, IAF has established, managed and harvested several species of tropical hardwoods in Guatemala’s lake Izabal basin. These projects have replaced and continue to replace grazing lands with forest, returning the rainforest that was cleared over the past century for cattle grazing.

IAF team-members comprise agronomists, tropical foresters, local managers, financial analysts and foundation workers. Our mission is to develop a financially rewarding, socially responsible enterprise that takes advantage of the growing demand and increasing prices for Green, sustainably grown, certified tropical hardwoods and high-quality cacao beans.