Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda, I.A.P.
Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda, I.A.P. (also called GESG) is a Mexican grassroots conservation organization working in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Querétaro.
For almost 40 years, the organization has worked with local communities to protect forests, restore ecosystems, and create income opportunities linked to conservation. It has also been active in voluntary carbon markets since 2002, with a model designed to send most of the financial benefits directly to the families who care for the land.
At the center of this work is the Local Protocol for Subnational Actions for the Regeneration of Forests ( aka Local Protocol). The protocol calculates carbon sequestration by vegetation type, issues serialized carbon reduction certificates, and channels at least 80% of revenues to participating landowners. The programme is run together with Querétaro’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, SEDESU, and has continued across three government administrations.
GESG had a credible, long-standing carbon programme. What it needed was a digital system that could make this credibility easier to see, follow, and verify.
A strong carbon programme that was hard to see from the outside
Carbon markets depend on trust. Buyers want to know where offsets come from, which land areas are involved, who benefits financially, and whether the claims behind each carbon reduction certificate can be checked.
GESG had already built much of this trust on the ground. It had long-term relationships with landowners, a government-backed protocol and a model that directs most revenue to participating families. But much of the programme’s information was still managed through spreadsheets, documents, and internal knowledge. That made the system harder to communicate externally and more difficult to scale.
- Connect each carbon offset to a specific place
- Show buyers which land areas are linked to the programme
- Make payments to landowners more transparent
- Give contributors a shareable view they can trust, without exposing sensitive information
- Make a local carbon programme easier to audit, explain, and grow
Turning the Carbono Biodiverso programme into a public digital registry
OpenForests worked with GESG to design and build a digital registry for the Carbono Biodiverso programme. The goal was to make key parts of the system easier to follow: how carbon inventories are calculated, how offsets are issued, which landowners participate, and how revenue is distributed. The platform combines registry functions with an interactive map, giving buyers, partners, auditors, and the public a clearer view of the programme.
Digitising the Carbono Biodiverso protocol
The Carbono Biodiverso Protocol already defined how carbon sequestration is calculated by vegetation type and how carbon reduction certificates are issued. OpenForests helped translate this methodology into a digital structure that could be used in a registry.
This meant organising landowners registration, property areas, vegetation type information, carbon data, and programme records in a way that could be searched, displayed, and maintained over time.
Instead of keeping the programme’s credibility buried in files and spreadsheets, the registry gives GESG a clearer system to manage and present its work to partners and auditors.
GESG Carbono Biodiverso Registry (all data shown is fictitious and for illustrative purposes only)
Making offsets traceable
Each carbon offset needs to be identifiable and traceable. Without this, it becomes difficult for buyers and auditors to know what they are purchasing, where it comes from, and whether the same offset has been counted more than once.
OpenForests helped structure the registry around serialised carbon offsets issuance. This creates a clearer link between the carbon offset, project areas, and transactions.
For buyers, this makes the carbon offsets less abstract.
For GESG, it creates a more reliable foundation for managing carbon reduction sales and reporting. For the wider market, it supports the basic transparency that voluntary carbon programmes need.
Inventory management tab (all data shown is fictitious and for illustrative purposes only)
Showing where the work happens
Carbon offsets often feel disconnected from place. A buyer may receive a certificate, but not necessarily understand the land, people, or ecosystems behind it.
That’s why we linked the registry with our explorer.land interactive map.
Through the platform, users can explore the areas linked to the Carbono Biodiverso programme and better understand the landscapes where conservation and restoration activities take place. This makes the registry more than a database. It becomes a way to connect carbon finance with real places in the Sierra Gorda.
Shareable partner view of the GESG Carbono Biodiverso Registry
Making landowner payments more transparent
One of the strongest parts of GESG’s model is that at least 80% of revenues are directed to participating landowners.
OpenForests helped make this financial flow easier to document and communicate.
By connecting offsets, transactions, and landowner participation, the registry supports a clearer view of how money moves through the programme. This matters because transparency is not only about carbon data. It is also about showing whether local communities and land stewards actually benefit.
Payout status tracking (all data shown is fictitious and for illustrative purposes only)
A carbon programme that is easier to verify, explain, and scale
The Carbono Biodiverso Registry makes GESG’s carbon programme more visible and easier to understand.
“It was a very natural connection that we had and (…) because of the experience that you had come from, we were speaking on the same level.”
Laura P. Burke Pérez-Arce · President · GESG
For GESG
Decades of field experience and institutional knowledge now sit in a digital system that can be maintained, shared, and used as a foundation for audits, reporting, and future growth.
For buyers
Serialised offsets, mapped project areas, and documented transactions give a clearer way to understand where carbon reduction certificates come from and how a purchase connects to land and communities.
For landowners
Revenue flows are easier to document and trace, supporting a model that directs at least 80% of revenues to participating families.
Sharing the story behind Carbono Biodiverso
We were honored to have Pati Ruiz Corzo & Laura P. Burke Pérez-Arce from GESG on our Beyond the Canopy podcast.
The conversation gave space to the story behind Carbono Biodiverso: how the programme was created, why transparency matters in carbon markets, and how conservation finance can better support the families and communities caring for the Sierra Gorda landscape.
A blueprint for community-first carbon programmes
Any conservation programme with a rigorous methodology but no digital infrastructure faces the same problem as GESG. This approach adapts to other carbon registries and community carbon programmes.
- run a carbon registry or a community carbon programme
- need each carbon offset to be traceable to a specific place
- work with a government-endorsed MRV methodology
Do you have a rigorous framework that deserves to be visible?
We design and build the digital infrastructure that makes rigorous work verifiable and scalable.
