Activities which involve the poaching and capture of protected species are under-regulated in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. Repeated investigations by ParksWatch staff within the reserve have led researchers to conclude that the reserve, even in well-monitored locations such as Tikal National Park, does not have the capacity to fully regulate the activity. The situation is most critical in the reserve’s Multiple Use Zone, an area surrounded by low-density settlements. The National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) attributes this inability of park management to effectively stop poachers within reserve boundaries to both a lack of funding and personal. The problem is so widespread that it is common to find restaurants in the neighboring city of Flores serving traditional dishes that include illegally killed species as a main course.
In response to this problem, CONAP has established firm guidelines regarding the sustainable management of the reserve’s forests. These guidelines include agreements between the Organization of Management and Conservation’s (OMYC) Department of Vigilance and local settlements to institute community-based Commission’s of Surveillance and Control. Each commission patrols an area within the reserve for illegal activities. On January 18, 2003, while completing a routine patrol, guards from Uaxactún confiscated a female jaguar (Panthera onca), which had been illegally killed approximately 15 miles north of the community. She was two years old. The commission of the community promptly informed CONAP about the crime. Unfortunately, by the time the information was received, the illegal hunter fled the village and was not found.
The Commission’s of Surveillance and Control working in Uaxactún and its neighboring communities are a good start and a symbol of progress in the attempts of CONAP to decrease the number of illegal activities occurring within the Mayan Biosphere Reserve. Yet, they cannot alone penetrate the breath of this problem. Even with the intuition of commuty commissions, populations of protected species such as the jaguar (P. onca) and the gray parrot (Amazona farinosa) continue to suffer from illegal capturing and killings. According to PaksWatch’s continuing investigations, in the year of 2002, in the community of Carmelita, 7 gray parrots were killed. Ten more were illegally captured. Moreover, in 2001, members of the Carmelita community were charged in the killing of a jaguar.
The program, in effect since 1999 – needs to be perfected. To ensure their effectiveness, these commissions must be strengthened. To effectively stop poaching, CONAP must work forcefully and consistently to find a solution for this problem.
(Photo courtesy of OMYC and WCS: Killed jaguar and members of the Commission’s of Surveillance and Control of Uaxactun.)
ParksWatch: February 2003