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Guatemala
Guatemala Featured in Frontlines as Mission of the
Month
The following is reprinted from Frontlines,
November 2005 issue.
Challenge
Guatemala, a Central American nation slightly smaller than
Tennessee, is a land rich in Mayan ruins and vast forests.
With a gross domestic product of $26.7 billion and a population
of 12.6 million people, Guatemala has the largest economy
in Central America and is the most populous country in the
region.
El Petén, the northernmost region that covers nearly 13,000
square miles and accounts for one-third of the country's area,
is of particular significance. As the heartland of the Maya
culture during its height around 750 BC, the forest-rich region
was home to several million people, making it one of the most
densely populated regions of the world at the time.
Today, much of the region is covered by an environmental
protection law. But farmers seeking an escape from rural poverty
and degraded agricultural land continue migrating to and settling
in the protected woodlands. Trees are being cut and entire
biocultures surrounding archeological sites are dying.
Innovative Response
 USAID
started looking at the problems in El Petén in 1990, when
the Guatemalan government created the Maya Biosphere Reserve
and the country was still undergoing a civil war, which ended
in 1996. Since then, the Agency has invested $38.6 million
in the reserve, with approximately $8 million going toward
a program that preserves the forest and helps farmers living
in the area make a living legally through the forestry community
concessions.
The first step, taken in conjunction with the National Council
of Protected Areas, was to create the forestry concessions
concept, which defined how farmers could use the forest in
a sustainable way. In 1996 the concessions were approved,
and, over the next couple of years, USAID worked with local
authorities on drafting rules that would limit migration but
also allow residents some use of forest lands.
Within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a multiple-use zone was
established, where people could harvest a certain number of
trees per year and promote natural regeneration of the forest.
There are 12 legal community forestry concessions in the multiple-use
zone in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Two industrial concessions
were given to private Guatemalan corporations.
USAID helped the communities form associations and link
with local nongovernmental organizations, which showed residents
how to manage the forest. People also learned how to better
manage their community finances so they could improve their
quality of life through access to health and education services.
USAID also helped the forestry concessions create the Community
Forestry Concessions Enterprise (FORESCOM) to market their
timber and nontimber products and to obtain group certification
for their wood.
The communities now have trained some of their members to
patrol the forest and report any illegal activities to the
authorities. Firefighters have also been trained in abating
forest fires.
"Most immigrants to El Petén settle on the forest land to
farm and move on after a few years, in search of better soil,
when the land becomes unproductive," said Liliana Gil of USAID/Guatemala.
"But we've taught communities all the techniques necessary
to sustainably manage the forest. We've provided technical
assistance in managing the forest, business administration,
organization, enterprise skills, and harvesting."
Through the Global Development Alliance (GDA) Secretariat,
in 2004 USAID began helping reserve residents develop and
sell timber products with added value. Communities were provided
with equipment and taught about the kinds of timber products
that foreign companies might buy.
Results
Migration within the Maya Biosphere Reserve has slowed down,
as its residents have found a way to make a living while preserving
the land.
Wood cutting is a certified process, and legally cut timber
is sold to numerous large companies worldwide. Companies such
as Global Building Products and American Wood Products—through
the GDA project—are placing orders for milled lumber, flooring,
decking, tool components, and guitar parts.
A March 2005 roundtable of sellers and buyers resulted in
orders for more than 1.5 million board feet of certified wood
with an approximate value of $3 million.
The work in El Petén has provided direct economic benefit
to over 10,000 people and indirectly benefited another 50,000,
Gil estimates.
"They are seeing now that there's a social benefit with
the management of the forest," she said. "They used to slash
and burn. Now they know when to do the cutting, and they've
learned the cycle of planting trees—when to cut, and how to
cut and not destroy the tree."
Instances of illegal hunting, logging, land invasions, and
forest fires have decreased, according to the World Wildlife
Conservation Society, which monitors the area. Endangered
species are not further decreasing in numbers.
Nicaragua,
Venezuela, Belize, and Panama
are interested in replicating the forestry concessions model,
and have hired technicians working in El Petén to provide
technical assistance. "People still try to create illegal
settlements inside or next to the concession areas, but communities
go to the authorities," Gil said. "Our model was to prove
that if you allowed the community to manage its own resources
and see the economic value of the forest, they would protect
it and not allow illegal activities. We've done that."
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