For immediate release August 26, 2003
For more information, contact us: parkswatch.info@duke.edu
Gerardo Carreón, Carlos Albacete and Piedad Espinosa
www.parkswatch.org
Community of Frontera Corozal, Chiapas, Mexico – ParksWatch-Guatemala and ParksWatch-Mexico joined forces during August to carry out a joint evaluation of Lacantún Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. It was the tenth protected area within the Selva Maya evaluated by ParksWatch over the last 21 months.
The Selva Maya is the largest tropical forest in the Americas north of the Amazon. It covers portions of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. It occupies a large extension of the Yucatan Peninsula. The Mexican portion of the Selva Maya is located in southern Mexico and includes the Lacandona forest in Chiapas, and the forests of Campeche and Quintana Roo. In Guatemala, the Selva Maya is found in the northern department of Peten in the Maya Biosphere Resereve. In Belize, the Selva Maya is in the west in Río Bravo and the Mayan Mountains. Three million hectares of the Selva Maya are protected in the three countries, mostly as biosphere reserves.
With diverse ecosystems and natural habitats, the Mayan civilization flurished in the Selva Maya. For this reason, today one of the Selva Maya\’s outstanding characteristics is that it brings together both natural and cultural heritage; Mayan ruins are found throughout the region. When the Mayan civilization collapsed, the land was reclaimed by the forest, creating a unique, biologically diverse place. Thus far, scientists have documented a significant number of endemic species in the Selva Maya including 11 mammal species, 20 bird species, 40 reptiles and 11 amphibian species. In addition, the only plant species of the Lacandoniaceae family, Lacandonia schismatica, is found here.
Lacandonia schismatica, photo credits: Barbara Ambrose, Francisco Vergara Silva, Elena Alvarez Vuylla Roces
Today, due to human population growth and inappropriate resource use, the Selva Maya is exceedingly threatened. Destructive processes are increasing. It is possible to observe that the processes severely threatening Lagnua del Tigre and Sierra del Lacandón National Parks of Guatemala are also manifesting themselves in Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in the Lacandona Forest, Mexico. The problems stem from population growth and the lack of just development opportunities. Within the protected areas, illegal activities have become the order of the day because of the governments’ lack of political will to enforce the laws. Large portions of the Selva Maya have been devastated from encroaching settlers, wildlife trafficking, and forest fires caused by the advancing agricultural and cattle ranching frontier. Governmental infrastructure projects such as highways, dams, and large-scale tourism development are imminent threats shrouded under the guise “sustainable development.”
Forest fires in the Selva Maya in April, 2003. Source: MODIS
Conservation projects in the region exceedingly focus on sustainable resource management and other development activities instead of strengthening protected areas for conserving biological diversity. This model does not guarantee conservation, as it does not address the protected areas\’ most pressing needs. It is also troubling to observe that the funds for biodiversity conservation are not being used as such. To solve this problem, many of the projects need to be redesigned. This is true in the case of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, which as its first priority should dedicate the majority of its budget to strengthening the protected areas already established in Mesoamerica.
The Calakmul, Maya, Montes Azules, and Lacantún Biosphere Reserves together form an important part of the Selva Maya. Yet, these reserves suffer from a chronic lack of personnel and financial support. This in turn has resulted in insufficient control of illegal activities. For example, in the western sector of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, settlers have converted more than 150,000 hectares into agricultural land or pasture land. With proper regulations and control, this illegal conversion would not have happened.
No sustainable development project is capable of stopping these threats before they destroy this important tropical forest. The only way to stop the threats is to make a significant investment that will result in well-equipped, well-trained, permanent staff that is capable of controlling illegal activities, managing the protected areas, and strictly enforcing the laws.
Invasions into Selva Maya are being led by groups that have been known to manipulate the laws, and national and international agreements. This movement is basically taking the law into their own hands and negatively impacting the common good. ParksWatch recognizes the need to solve the problems of extreme poverty under which most of the population in this region live. ParksWatch also respects all those groups and people that are working to try to combat poverty. Yet, even if all the protected areas of Selva Maya became completely occupied by landless farmers, it would not alleviate the extreme poverty. Converting the Selva Maya into agricultural and grazing lands would instead: (1) end the way of life for thousands of people that depend on an intact forest for their livelihoods; (2) cause more poverty than it would alleviate; and (3) destroy a globally important conservation area.
ParksWatch\’s Demands
To eradicate the threats to Selva Maya\’s protected areas, immediate attention and support from the international community is needed. If the current trends are not reversed, during the next ten years, the ecosystems will be seriously degraded, and the currently well-conserved areas could face irreversible damage. Specifically, the following actions must be taken to respond to the situation in the Selva Maya:
* Access to sufficient financial resources must be guaranteed in order to support sufficient personnel to patrol for and control illegal activities in the Selva Maya.
* The governments of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize should urgently focus on strengthening the enforcement of their existing legislation. They should also implement and enforce the terms of the international agreements and pacts that they have signed.
* The governments of each country must put forth additional efforts to generate the necessary political will to end illegal activities and to fight against impunity for environmental crimes.
* The international community must insist that these governments fulfill the requirements of the environmental agreements ratified by each government, offering incentives and sanctions as appropriate.
This statement is based on ParksWatch’s evaluations of the Mexican and Guatemalan protected areas in the Selva Maya:
El Mirador-Río Azul National Park, Guatemala, January 2002
Naachtún Dos Lagunas Protected Biotope, Guatemala, February 2002
Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, April 2002
San Miguel la Palotada Protected Biotope (El Zotz), Guatemala, July 2002
Tikal National Park, Guatemala, September 2002
Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, February 2003
Sierra del Lacandón National Park, Guatemala, February 2003
Laguna del Tigre National Park, Guatemala, June 2003
Laguna del Tigre Protected Biotope, Guatemala, August 2003
Lacantún Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, August 2003
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ParksWatch
Center for Tropical Conservation
Durham, North Carolina USA