The Guatemalan Constitutional Court revoked a resolution by the Consejo Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (CONAP), which reduced the size of the reserve’s core zone. The court claimed there was an existing risk of causing irreparable damages to the protected area.
The CONAP resolution was issued a month ago, but the local NGO Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza, the area administrator and mayors of municipalities within the area denounced the problem to the general public. The executive secretary offices of CONAP decided to reduce the core Zone of Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, favoring the company Maderas el Alto, which has petitioned to start logging the area.
The complaints of Defensores de la Naturaleza were based on the fact that the Executive Secretary offices of CONAP did not have the legal right to issue the resolution. The resolution contradicted Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve Declaration (Decree 49-90), which states that cloud forest area within the core zone, cannot be reduced. The 4,044 ha affected by this resolution are indeed cloud forests.
Sierra de las Mina’s administrators presented this case to the Constitutional Court and requested support from ParksWatch and other Guatemalan organizations. The court’s revocation is not final; more time is needed to see if the core zone modification is definitively cancelled. Meanwhile, ParksWatch asked CONAP for the Maderas el Alto petition and is investigating who issued the resolution in order to audit the involved functionaries.
ParksWatch: July 2002