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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Forest
Concessions on Trial in Guatemala
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
09/08/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
An
important forest conservation initiative is going on in Guatemala.
Recognizing
the reasonable development aspirations of local peoples,
the
project attempts to tightly couple community-based sustainable
development
with adjacent strictly protected areas.
This recognizes
the
biological reality that conservation of biodiversity and
ecosystem
functionality requires large, inviolate ecological core
areas
surrounded by benignly managed buffer areas; and the social
reality
that without incentives and ownership, local peoples will do
what is
required to meet their human needs, including razing
protected
areas.
g.b.
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Title: Forest Concessions on Trial in
Guatemala
Source: Copyright Environment News Service (ENS)
2000
Date: September 4, 2000
By: Diane Jukofsky
SANTA
ELENA, Guatemala, September 4, 2000 (ENS) - In a bid to stem
deforestation
in the Pet‚n, in northern Guatemala, the government has
given
five community organizations permission to sustainably log
trees
in their neighboring forests over the next 25 years.
Conservationists
are watching closely to see how effective these
locally
managed forest concessions will be, both in curbing
deforestation
and providing stable incomes to residents, most of whom
are
subsistence farmers.
The
concessions are in the multiple use zone of the Maya Biosphere
Reserve.
Established in 1990, it is the largest forest expanse in the
country.
The
reserve is divided into three areas: an untouchable nuclear zone;
multiple
use zones, where activities that will not permanently harm
plants
or wildlife are allowed; and buffer zones, where low impact
farming
is permitted.
Central
American countries have established dozens of national parks
for
preservation, including the Pet‚n. Change detection analysis,
using
satellite data between 1986-1997, shows increasing
deforestation
of the Pet‚n's tropical forest as a result of an influx
of
settlers. The large expanse of the forest makes it hard to monitor
and
protect.
Nearly
90,000 people live within the reserve, and the population of
the
Pet‚n is expanding at a rate of about 10 percent annually.
The
pressures of increased migration to the area have taken a toll on
the
reserve. Settlers in search of free land have deforested nearly
10
percent of the reserve since 1986.
With
assistance from such groups as the Costa Rica based Tropical
Agricultural
Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE in its
Spanish
acronym), Guatemala's parks agency, CONAP, is granting
concessions
to interested communities.
CATIE
forester Glenn Galloway says communities that want a forest
concession
must demonstrate that they are well organized and present
a land
use plan for their piece of the forest. The first 25 year
concession
was granted in 1996; now concessions cover 1.2 million
acres
in the reserve's multiple use zone.
CATIE's
Bas Louman says that the concessions have been successful in
slowing
the advance of slash and burn farmers into the reserve. He
explains,
"Communities with concessions have a contract with the
state.
Within that contract, they are not allowed to help other
people
settle in the area or convert the forest to other uses. Within
their
land use plan they may dedicate certain areas to agriculture,
but
beyond those areas, it's prohibited."
Communities
that do not adhere to their contracts risk losing their
concessions.
To
provide communities with the technical assistance they need to win
concessions
from the government, the CATIE/CONAP project, which is
supported
by the U.S. Agency for International Development, fostered
a
conservation group based in the Pet‚n.
Now
technicians with the group, the Nature for Life Foundation, help
residents
develop and follow forest management plans and provide them
with
training in sustainable forestry.
Carlos
G˘mez Caal, the group's executive secretary, who was born in
the
Pet‚n, says that he has seen positive changes in people's
attitudes.
"Most people still want titles to their land; that's
indisputable,"
he says. "But we have convinced many that under the
constitution,
this is impossible, and that forest concessions offer
them
the best opportunities."
A
recent CATIE study shows that the forest concessions can be
profitable.
A 30,000 acre concession granted in 1998 to a small
cooperative
yielded an annual profit of US$4,400 for each of the 29
member
families, a substantial increase to annual incomes.
But
Louman warns that each cooperative's circumstances are different,
and not
all concessions hold the same quantity of harvestable timber.
Most
concessionaires will need to depend on more than sustainable
forestry
for their livings, he says.
Other
problems the concessionaires face, Galloway says, are the lack
of
equipment, a need for technical, legal, and organizational
assistance,
and a struggle to find markets that will pay enough for
the
timber.
While
the Nature for Life Foundation helps communities overcome these
obstacles,
G˘mez acknowledges that they are hampered by a lack of
available
capital. Banks in Guatemala will not grant loans to
concession
organizations since they do not have titles to their land.
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