Chickens for San José: How Carbon Finance Makes a Difference on the Ground
September 25, 2025
The XiCO₂e: Durango Forest Project protects over 270,000 hectares of forest in the Sierra Madre Occidental, but its impact doesn’t stop there. Through the project’s Bolsa Común, 10% of carbon credit revenues are invested in locally chosen initiatives. In Ejido San José de Miravalles, the community voted for a cage-free egg project, a practical step that improves food security, lowers household costs, and creates new livelihoods.
A Project Chosen by the Community
Every initiative supported by the Bolsa Común begins with the ejidos themselves. In community assemblies, members decide which projects best meet their needs and aspirations. This bottom-up approach ensures that resources flow where they are most relevant and impactful.
The Durango Forest Project involves the ejidos Pueblo Nuevo, Las Pintas, Vencedores y Anexos, and San José de Miravalles. Each defines its own priorities for Bolsa Común investments, ensuring that carbon revenues translate into initiatives with direct local impact.
In San José, the decision landed on cage-free egg production. Families already raising poultry received Rhode Island Red hens, a high-yield breed well suited for consistent egg production. With support from the Bolsa Común, households could expand their backyard setups and turn climate finance into a steady supply of food and income.
Impact on Families and Beyond
Though modest in scale, the egg project is already showing tangible results:
- Around 400 people directly benefit as families produce eggs for their own households and sell surplus within the community.
- An additional 500 neighbors and buyers have access to fresh, affordable eggs — an important source of protein in daily diets.
- 64 people are directly engaged in production, gaining skills and creating an additional income stream.
- Producers report feed costs dropping by up to 40%, improving efficiency and margins.
- Buyers benefit too, with egg prices reduced by roughly 20%, making food more affordable for local households.
Because eggs are part of daily life, the benefits extend beyond the families keeping hens. Local buyers can purchase food at fairer prices, while the ejido gains more independence from external markets.
Strengthening Food Security and Independence
For San José, the cage-free egg initiative is more than an economic activity. It reduces reliance on imported food, improves diets — particularly for children and vulnerable groups — and creates a financial buffer for families in uncertain times.
At the same time, the project fosters collaboration. Families are not just raising chickens for themselves, but contributing to a shared effort that strengthens resilience across the community.
Why the Bolsa Común is Unique
Most carbon market projects stop at forest protection. The Durango project goes further, ensuring that revenues create direct, visible, and lasting change in people’s lives.
The Bolsa Común is a mechanism we designed to guarantee that communities are not just passive recipients of project benefits, but active decision-makers. While other projects may distribute revenues indirectly or without transparency, the Durango project commits a dedicated 10% of all carbon credit revenues to a common fund reserved exclusively for productive projects.
What makes it truly unique is how it works: the communities themselves decide, through their assemblies, which initiatives will be financed. This ensures that projects respond to real priorities — whether that’s food security, medical care, infrastructure, education, or local enterprises like the cage-free egg initiative in Ejido San José de Miravalles.
By establishing the Bolsa Común, the project has set a new standard in the carbon market:
Transparency: communities know exactly where the money goes.
Accountability: results are measurable and reported.
Ownership: decisions rest with the people who live on and protect the land.
This model goes beyond “sharing revenues.” It creates a virtuous cycle: communities benefit directly from climate finance, and in turn, they strengthen their commitment to sustainable forest management. The Bolsa Común proves that carbon markets can deliver equity, empowerment, and impact, not just offsets.
A Model for Mexico’s Future
Ejido San José’s cage-free egg project shows the broader value of the XiCO₂: Durango Forest Project. It demonstrates how climate finance can close the living income gap, create jobs, and strengthen rural economies, while securing ecosystems for generations to come.
For Mexico, it represents a blueprint for inclusive, community-driven climate action. For the global carbon market, it is proof that carbon projects must deliver more than credits. They must deliver better lives, stronger communities, and a future where people and forests thrive together.
XiCO2e: Durango Forest Project: Carbon With Purpose
At FORLIANCE, we believe climate finance must serve both the planet and its people. The Ejido San José cage-free egg project illustrates this in practice:
The Ejido San José cage-free egg initiative is living proof:
- Affordable, nutritious food on the table.
- Hundreds of families benefiting directly and indirectly.
- Dozens of people with new work and stable income.
- Forests protected by communities who now have stronger, more resilient livelihoods.
This is the future of climate action — carbon with purpose, conservation with prosperity, and communities at its heart.
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