MEXECO is created to promote ecotourism as a guideline for the sustainable growth and development in rural communities of Mexico and Costa Rica, and to lay the knowledge base for its replicability in similar communities in other regions of the world. MEXECO will foster the empowerment, equity, and equality of vulnerable communities, who live constantly in a fragile environmental and eco-social balance, as well as it will be focused on the empowerment of women and ethnic minorities, promoting affirmative action initiatives, environmental conservation, and the development of sustainable inclusive societies via ecotourism. This will be achieved through the establishment of Rural Training Workshops in the communities, in addition to the implementation of an online course, focused on reaching a wider audience, targeting students interested in the sustainable development of natural areas through ecotourism. MEXECO will develop initiatives to reduce barriers faced by rural/indigenous communities in accessing learning opportunities. The project will also support inter-regional connectivity, as well as will achieve an exchange of knowledge between universities of the consortium, to promote theoretical and practical know-how in the area, as well as to make their work visible in the research community. Due to the current unstable economic, social, and environmental situation exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, MEXECO will support a successful green and sustainable global economic recovery in Mexico and Costa Rica -especially in the areas selected by the project: Costa Magia (network of indigenous communities of the Coast of Oaxaca), La Escobilla and Co'ox Mayab (network of indigenous communities of the Yucatan Peninsula), in Mexico, and “San Ramón de la Virgen de Sarapiquí”, Heredia and “Asociación Ecoturística Ruta 702”, Alajuela, in Costa Rica.