Sustainability & Forest Conservation in the Maya Biosphere Reserve
Partner: Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP)
Location: The Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Petén Region of Guatemala
Key Themes: Community, Collaboration, Conservation, Stewardship, Sustainable Forestry
Check out the short version:
Challenge:
MACP, a philanthropic organization that directly supports the forest conservation and community concessions in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Petén region of Guatemala, sought to incorporate authentic community voices and stories into their evaluative efforts to assess the progress and impact of the community concession program over the past 25 years.
MACP wanted to capture the voices, thoughts, and opinions of local workers, concession leaders, and community members, and to assess their hopes, fears, threats, and vision for the future. These voices will supplement the data collected by MACP and will presented to board members and stakeholders involved in the project.
Solution:
MACP partnered with GLP to create a video (documentary-style) to support the data collected about the impact and results of the concessionary model in the Petén.
GLP’s goal was to show the results of the past 25 years of work, as well as highlight the challenges and the vision for the future as described by the people who are directly impacted and contribute daily to the work in the Petén. The video will reflect the diverse voices of the communities: leaders, workers, students/trainees, families and children. Ultimately this video will serve to demonstrate proof of success of a community-led model of sustainable forestry developed to support conservation and socio-economic goals.
Additional details:
GLP’s mission was to create a video “report” on behalf of Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP), documenting the positive impacts and challenges of the community-led model of forest conservation in the jungle of the Petén.
The communities that make up the concessions recently hit an exciting milestone: in 2022, they completed 25 years of the concession agreements (the allotted time originally granted to local communities to manage the forests). In December 2022, the communities received the green light to continue managing their forest concessions for another 25 years.
These concessions, which are overseen by ACOFOP, FORESCOM, and several other NGOs and cooperatives, are “one of the most successful and longstanding examples of community-based sustainable forest management in the world” (Protecting the world’s forests takes a village—and then some).
Since their founding in the late 1990s, the Indigenous and forest communities in the Maya Biosphere Reserve have developed sustainable and lucrative enterprises, while also protecting the forests from threats ranging from illegal logging, illegal cattle ranching, drug trafficking, and forest fires. In the midst of their incredible work, the forests managed by local communities continue to “suffer less tree loss and sequester more carbon than other forests, including those under government protection” (Protecting the world’s forests takes a village—and then some).
Additional Resources
Basic
Article: “Protecting the World’s Forests Takes a Village—and Then Some”
Learn more about the history of the concessions model in the Maya Biosphere Reserve and the challenges they are facing over the next 25 years.
Intermediate
Article: “Guardians of the Maya Biosphere”
Discover how indigenous local communities have stopped deforestation in the Maya Biosphere Reserve and have successfully and sustainably managed a flourishing forest.
Advanced
Video: “A Forest Protection Association Emerges”
Take a look back over the past 30 years since the Mayan Biosphere Reserve was created in 1990 and discover how it became the largest protected area in Central America.