Are evictions the future of the Maya Biosphere Reserve?
On July 16, when Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom presented the Cuatro Balam plan for increased tourism and environmental protection within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, he showed the following video:
The video invokes the wisdom of the ancient Maya, their superior knowledge of the heavens and the natural world. It goes on to paint a picture of [...]
Communities and concessions
SAN FRANCISCO — One of the strangest things about Guatemala is how close it is to the US. And how easy to leave. In our plane, we effortlessly crossed the border where Mexico tries to keep the Guatemalans out, then cleared the wall the US is building to keep the Mexicans out. Just four [...]
A visit to Beef National Park
LAGUNA DEL TIGRE NATIONAL PARK, Guatemala — The sign announcing the entrance to Laguna del Tigre National Park is large and impressive. The problem is, that’s about the only visible sign that you’re entering a “core protected area” of a massive national wilderness preserve.
We traveled about five hours by four-wheel-drive pickup truck on drenched dirt [...]
On patrol with Guatemalan environment officials and soldiers
LA PASADITA, Guatemala — The signs were all there: tree stumps, hastily constructed barbed-wire fences and stray cattle. All that was missing was the perpetrator — or perpetrators — of this all too common environmental crime.
About 45 hectares of forestland had been burned, replaced by corn plots and tall grasses, with a few cattle scattered [...]
On the other side of the jungle
Yesterday we completed our two-day return hike from El Mirador to Carmelita. The bajos again felt muddy and endless, but with the help of an early start and a mule ride, we made it out. On our own, without the archaeologists for the first time in many days, our group of four felt [...]