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The Nature Conservancy in Mexico Mexico Places We Protect Tropical Forests Press Releases Ways of Giving Contact Us |
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Mesoamerica’s Maya Forest - or Selva Maya in Spanish - is the largest remaining tropical rainforest outside of the Amazon. Its extensive and diverse forests provide refuge for countless rare and endangered species like the white lipped pecarry, tapir, scarlet macaw, Harpy eagle and howler monkey.
One can often spot jaguar tracks on the forest’s floor. It is one of the few places on Earth where five large cat species live - jaguar, puma, ocelot, jaguarundi and margay. The Maya Forest harbors up to 400 species of birds and in peak winter migratory months as many as several million birds rest in the area.
The 13.3 million-acre Maya Forest stretches across Belize, northern Guatemala and through Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The Conservancy is working to protect the entire forest as well as crucially important sites – the 4.5 million-acre Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, the 1.8 million-acre Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and the Calakmul-Sian Ka'an corridor in Mexico, and in Belize the 260,000-acre Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, the 1.2 million acre Maya Mountains Massif and the 830,000 acre Maya Mountain Marine Corridor on land and in sea in Belize.
Traditions under siege
The forest also preserves archaeological sites of the ancient Maya civilization and today its descendants continue to live in the area. Agriculture, harvesting timber, honey production and other commercially important species such as allspice, chicle (traditional base for chewing gum), and xate palm (used in many floral arrangements) are staple livelihoods.
Due to the expanding population in the area, the jungle is being cleared for agriculture, fragmenting the forest cover. Roads, dams and development are also putting pressure on the forest's shrinking resources. The area is targeted for new tourist development, and that ultimately means larger roads, influx of workers and more visitors.
Saving the forest into the future
The Nature Conservancy created a coordinated tri-national plan to protect the Maya Forest working with local organizations, landowners, regional governments and the scientific community. This unprecedented endeavor looked at the entire forest across national borders, brought together various government agencies and partners to safeguard this ancient forest for future generations. The plan helps:
- inform regional land-use planning,
- manage uncontrollable fire across the region,
- improve the capacity to monitor wildlife across the region
- and promote alternative tourism-based livelihoods.
The Conservancy is also working on new and innovative methods to protect the forest.
A landmark debt swap
In 2006 the Conservancy along with Conservation International brokered a debt swap between the United States and Guatemala. Under this deal the U.S. will forgive $24 million in debt owed to it by Guatemala in exchange for this money being put into tropical forest conservation in Guatemala.
Managing the ravages of fire
Fire management has taken a leap forward with an international consultancy developing a diagnostic of priority border areas for the three countries. Mexico has set up a control and communication center and Guatemala and Belize have a binational project promoting better fire management policies.
Saving land in Sierra del Lacandon
In 2006, the Conservancy purchased two parcels of privately owned land in Guatemala’s Sierra del Lacandon, called Naranjitos I and II. The combined acreage of 77,000-acres includes some of the most intact and biologically diverse tracts of rainforest in Guatemala.
In Guatemala, an innovative coordinating body was set up to exchange information and develop protocols for monitoring land cover, jaguar and macaw populations and forest quality.
Protecting forests in Calakmul
In November 2004, 370,000 acres of threatened tropical forest in Calakmul were permanently protected under a historic land deal between the Mexican federal and state governments, the Conservancy, Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán and four local communities. Building on this success, the Conservancy and partners are seeking to purchase and permanently protect an additional 230,000 acres in the neighboring Balam Ku State Reserve, which is home to jaguar, king vultures and an immense bat cave.
In Mexico we are using trip cameras to record mammal activity in 15 sites within the Calakmul Reserve. So far white lipped peccary, all five species of wild cats and tapir with young have been photographed.
An eagle returns
A Harpy eagle was spotted for the first time in 50 years in late 2005, in the remote Bladen Reserve after it was thought to be extirpated from the area. Since then a couple more Harpy’s have been seen, indicating that the forest’s health is slowly recovering.
The Bladen Reserve is in Belize’s the Maya Mountains Massif which covers about 4 percent of the country and is home to several bird species and a haven for migratory birds. Bird watching is an important tourism experience in the area and the Conservancy is helping impoverished local communities set up ecotourism projects along with local partners and the government.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): An aerial view of the Maya Forest in Mexico. © Mark Godfrey/TNC; A traditional Mayan woman. © Mark Godfrey/TNC.
