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The "Grupo Autónomo para la Investigación Ambiental" (GAIA) is an association that mainly works in the Southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The team begun working in Oaxaca Costal Region in 1994, integrated by an interdisciplinary group of biologists, agronomists and foresters, who seekt to provide sustainable agricultural options and to promote ecological restoration practices for those communities displaced by the creation of the National Park of "Bahías de Huatulco" that soon became one of the most important international touristic places in Mexico. GAIA was formally constituted in 1998, it maintains an interdisciplinary team and work orientation. For two decades GAIA has worked with diverse communities in the watersheds of the rivers Copalita-Zimatán-Huatulco, aiming to strengthen communities´ technical and governance capacities, as well as the improvement of their living conditions. An important achievement of this joint work was the creation of the "Sistema Comunitario para la Biodiversidad" (SICOBI) in 2001. SICOBI groups nine communities from the Coast and the Souther Sierra of Oaxaca, committed with sustainable land management and sustainable production of coffee, honey, corn and beans. In 2008, SICOBI and GAIA created their own commercial brand: "Pueblos y Selvas" that certifies sustainable and fair production, oriented to solidarity and niche markets. GAIA works based on regional development programs, incorporating different communities in various regions focusing in threes lines: Community institutional strengthening, community land and natural resource management and regional development strategies. For many years GAIA has worked with the governmental program of Payment for Environmental Services, interested in the recognition of the role of communities´ efforts in the maintenance and provision of ecosystem services. GAIA has promoted the reinvestment of these "environmental rents" generated by the areas that communities have decided to devote to conservation and the protection of water bodies, in sustainable agro-forest and forest productive systems. Based on this experience GAIA and SICOBI are leaders of the construction of the "REDD initiative in Oaxaca", diverging from the federal government´ s climate change strategy, as they seek a more des-centralized governance also compatible with local livelihoods. In recent years seeking to extend the reach of their Climate Mitigation perspective, GAIA has taken part in community land management processes in the Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Estado de México and Quintana Roo. "Commons in action" is a joint program by the IASC and the Elinor Ostrom Award. For more information visit iasc-commons.org. Join and support the commons! The animation was done by the Viumasters. Get to know their work at viumasters.com