The chainsaw stopped, Emilio Latin appeared up and took a number of small leaps backwards with out taking his eyes off the trunk. First there was the sound, crack, then the earth shook, shrubs went down like matchsticks, the crash intensified because the American mahogany fell and bounced. Then complete silence. Relieved, Latin wiped his brow and stated, “That was a troublesome one.” It took the 24-year-old simply half an hour to get by way of it, however in a temperature of 37 levels, his shirt was soaked by way of.
This noble wooden is among the 14 species that may be reduce in the course of the felling interval granted to group forest concessions within the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) in northern Guatemala, bordering Mexico to the north and Belize to the east. Its two million hectares preserved within the Petén area make it the most important reserve in Guatemala and the Selva Maya, which stretches from Mexico to the Darien forest in Panama.
“It is a 14-million-hectare forest massif, one of many largest on the planet, a key pure hall between North and South America and a biodiversity hotspot,” defined French ecologist Marie-Ange Ngo Bieng, a researcher on the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) in Montpellier. She approached the trunk that Latin was starting to prune: 30 meters excessive, with broad buttresses. “This mahogany tree was a minimum of 200 years previous,” estimated the knowledgeable. However it was sacrificed as a result of it was exhibiting indicators of weak point, defined Jorge Ramirez, in his forties and with a superbly trimmed beard.
For the previous 10 years, Ramirez has been the technical supervisor of the Arbol Verde (“inexperienced tree”) forest concession. “It had anthills in its roots and useless branches. We most well-liked to chop it down, as a result of it was going to fall and injury this one, which reveals all of the indications of turning into a vigorous seed-bearer,” he stated, turning to the precise.
‘Serving to nature regenerate’
Latin swallowed a big gulp of water whereas his 19-year-old assistant learn the GPS map to seek out the subsequent tree. The 2 loggers resumed their stroll, a wide-bladed chainsaw slung over their shoulders. Within the dry season, they reduce down round 15 timber a day, however by no means greater than two per hectare of the 65,000 hectares of the reserve managed by Arbol Verde.
Just a few hundred meters away, a caterpillar tractor reduce a path by way of this impenetrable inexperienced mass. The timber to be protected have been marked beforehand, however the remainder fall, unceremoniously. A four-meter-wide furrow permits the tractors to go, dragging the trunks alongside on a cable. The scene appeared violent, with the noise of the engines, the scent of diesel and the shrubs torn from the earth. “However it’s fairly the other in actuality. These forest concessions are a mannequin, each socially and ecologically. They educate us how those that reside off the forest know tips on how to defend it,” stated Ngo Bieng.
The plot from which the mahogany was taken will stay untouched for an additional 30 years. “That must be sufficient time for the forest to get well,” stated the scientist. Alongside her, Ramirez added, “We’ll assist nature regenerate within the subsequent wet season. We have nurseries to replant the forest and the trail we have simply laid out for the tractors. We’re additionally taking the chance to create fireplace breaks.”
This set of ecological guidelines is adopted within the 12 forest concessions that collectively handle practically 550,000 hectares of the biosphere reserve, which is nearly 40% of its floor space. These concessions are the results of peace agreements signed in 1996 between the federal government of Alvaro Arzu, the United Nations and the guerrillas (Guatemalan Nationwide Revolutionary Unity). They included an agrarian part which offered for households displaced in the course of the warfare and communities of chicleros (gum harvesters), who had been settled on this forest for the reason that early 20th century to extract the pure chewing gum, to be granted the precise to use the forest’s sources sustainably.
‘Huge landowners dominated’
Concession contracts are drawn up for a renewable time period of 25 years. “The state owns the land, units the principles and extends the contracts if the clauses are fulfilled. In trade, the communities pay taxes and likewise fund Guatemala’s Nationwide Council for Protected Areas [CONAP],” defined Byron Castellanos, director of the Balam environmental group in Petén, a member of CONAP.
In recent times, all of the contracts have been prolonged, with targets met and even exceeded: Deforestation is nearly nil (0.4%) in forest concessions, whereas it’s thrice increased within the reserve core (36% of the MBR). In its 5 nationwide parks, regardless of being in protected areas, invasions by cattle house owners and unlawful trafficking of all types are rampant.
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This injury will be seen within the Cruce la Colorada forest concession (20,500 hectares), the place the 600 inhabitants inherited deforested land to plant grass and lift cattle. “Huge landowners dominated right here. It was a violent battle to get the land again, they usually even killed one in all us in 2010,” recounted Antonio Juarez, 47. “However when there is a social group like our cooperative and the state on our aspect, we find yourself successful. In 2017, the military evicted them and reclaimed the final 10 hectares we have been lacking.”
To elucidate the work the group has to do, Juarez invited us to the touch the clumps of fats, thick, invasive grass which have changed the forest: “[The grass] is tough, inconceivable to tug out by hand. With out fireplace, we would by no means eliminate it.” It is 7 am and the hearth workforce is making ready to burn a 2-hectare plot. There are solely palm timber right here, which will probably be protected, and on the bottom 40-centimeter clumps of this grass imported from England within the 19th century, meant for sheep.
‘The animals are already coming again’
Juarez ready his drone and 5 younger males surrounded the plot, every carrying a sprayer stuffed with water on his again. Together with his walkie-talkie on his belt, Sergio Navas, 28, positioned himself to the east along with his two assistants. All three have been carrying torches and moved ahead into the thickening smoke. The flames have been extinguished instantly. On the finish of the maneuver, in entrance of an expanse of ash, the workforce handled themselves to a Coca-Cola and chips at the back of the pick-up. “That is the second time we have burned and the grass has come again, virtually as robust as [in 2023],” commented Navas. Will probably be one other yr earlier than they set about restoring this plot.
On the plots which were replanted in an try to breed as a lot of the forest’s range as potential (caoba, missionary cedar, feather tree, calophyllum brasiliense…), the timber are already 5 to eight meters tall and small groves are taking up and decreasing the grass fields. “The animals are already coming again,” defined Juarez as he opened a entice digicam strategically positioned between the fields and the reforestation zone. A deer and a fox appeared on the display screen as evening fell.
“These first victories encourage us all to maintain going on this path. There is no different choice anyway,” concluded a smiling Juarez. The group additionally has to maintain a continuing watch on any invasion or smoke on the territory, utilizing drones, patrols and fireplace towers.
Creating ‘social improvement’
Cruce la Colorada is adjoining to the reserve’s so-called “buffer zone” (24%), a 15-kilometer-wide strip alongside the reserve’s southern border the place unlawful actions akin to cattle ranching and agriculture have change into established. Guatemala’s CONAP (which declined to reply our questions) doesn’t have the means to behave, and even much less so within the nationwide parks within the north and east, on the border with Mexico, the place crime can be rife, with migrant and drug smuggling and clandestine airstrips.
“The felony teams are bringing in inhabitants who need to collaborate with their trafficking actions, together with timber and wild animals. We will see that the state will not have the capability to guard the RBM any time quickly. Solely concessions have succeeded in preserving the forest whereas additionally creating social improvement,” stated Castellanos.
This virtuous mannequin appears to be at work in each exercise within the village of Uaxactun, whose inhabitants handle the most important forest concession on 83,000 hectares within the heart of the RBM. Its 800 inhabitants harvest timber but additionally derive a big a part of their revenue from the forest’s secondary merchandise, akin to xate palm, allspice and the nuts of the ramon, the Maya nut tree.
Meals self-sufficiency
Uaxactun is only a clearing. A big playground at its heart, bordered by the clinic, college, church and picket homes. The highest of the clearing is dominated by the sorting shed for xate, the deep inexperienced palm that retains for 40 days after slicing and is usually utilized in social gathering decorations within the US. The boys set out early within the morning to reap it within the forest, and the ladies rigorously pack it for transport to Miami.
The identical staff additionally take care of the nursery subsequent door, the place each tree seedlings and xate palm are grown. “Earlier than, we used to reap loads for resellers who paid little or no. However now that we’ve the concession, we’ve our personal gross sales channel and a administration plan that allows us to reforest sure areas, whereas we harvest in others,” defined Erwin Maas, 47, one in all Uaxactun’s leaders.
This plan leaves village households with an agricultural space by which to plant corn, beans and squash, making certain their meals self-sufficiency. The ladies of Uaxactun additionally make handcrafted dolls from the leaves of the corn cobs. And wooden from the forest is remodeled into planks, furnishings and sculptures within the sawmill and joinery on the different finish of the village. “Our precedence has all the time been to develop an economic system and maintain our younger individuals right here. Over the previous 20 years, we have educated them in an entire vary of forestry trades with this goal in thoughts,” stated Maas proudly.
The inhabitants, all companions within the concession, have determined that the income from the operation will go in the direction of schooling as soon as salaries have been paid. The working of the first and secondary faculties, and cost of scholarships for increased schooling away from the village. “In Uaxactun, nobody is wealthy, however we reside significantly better than in the remainder of the nation,” stated Maas, one of many few descendants of the Q’eqchi’ Maya ethnic group nonetheless residing in Uaxactun.
Wages within the concessions are increased than the Guatemalan common, thanks specifically to using licensed timber. Maas has not too long ago began growing an ecotourism exercise on foot and by bike. Something appears potential on this area, which is dwelling to quite a few archaeological websites. “The important thing to success is that we do not personal the land; no one can promote it or speculate on it. This removes a whole lot of issues for us,” stated Maas.
CIRAD plans to help this success by offering scientific knowledge on group administration for 3 years, due to a price range of €4.3 million, half of which is financed by the Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial. “These Guatemalan forest concessions are actually a textbook case: their conservation strategies show that preserving tropical forests works higher with native populations than with out them,” concluded Ngo Bieng.
