Global Conservation is working to secure the permanent protection for Mirador National Park in Peten, Guatemala – the Heart of the Maya Biosphere and the Cradle of Maya Civilization.
The Maya Biosphere has lost over 80% of its intact tropical forests and wildlife habitats in the past 20 years.
Mirador National Park is the last major intact primary forest remaining in Central America endowed with over 40 major ancient Maya cities, immense temples and pyramids, and hundreds of miles of interconnected Mayan causeways, all in an area larger than Yellowstone.
Mirador Patrols are working hard patrolling over 25,000 kilometers in the past year to protect Mirador National Park - the Heart of the Maya Biosphere, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is losing an average of 100,000 acres a year to land clearing for slash and burn agriculture and cattle ranching.
Below is a summary of progress on the ground patrolling over 660,000 acres by the Mirador Rangers. The Mirador National Park PROTECT program is led by Mr. Francisco Asturius, Director of FundaEco, Global Conservation’s NGO partner in Guatemala.
Threats to Mirador from all sides include narcotrafficking, illegal logging, wildlife poaching, hunting and land clearing for cattle ranching driven by profits of narco-trafficking.
Looted tomb discovered too late in Wakna, one of the 7 largest ancient Maya cities in MIrador located en route from Nakbe to La Florida in the Selva Maya concession area.
Illegal Logging in the Paixban Concession found and now Mirador Rangers are returning with the Army and CONAP to arrest the perpetrators.
Hunting is out of control in the last forests of the Maya Biosphere. Here a hunter is captured with shotgun and deer shot by Mirador Rangers.
Some of the dangers of patrolling Mirador includes many different types of poisonous snakes.
Profile on Francisco Asturias Director of Mirador Rangers
Construction almost complete on Ranger Station in El Jabalí on main trails into Mirador National Park.
Cameras funded by Global Conservation cover both Mirador and Calakmul Mexico – 60 in all – giving us for the first time an accurate jaguar and prey population count.
Photos by Francisco Asturias unless noted.
Battling Cambodia's Wildlife Snaring Crisis in Cardamom National Park
Over the past decade, snares, which are traps made of wire or rope, have become the biggest threat to wildlife in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. That’s why the work of our partner, Wildlife Alliance (WA), is so critical. WA has a team of 110 rangers who work tirelessly to remove snares from Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains. Read about their work to protect wildlife over the past 3 years.
read more
Leuser Ecosystem, Sumatra 2019-2020 Progress Report
Global Conservation is working with Forum Konservasi Leuser and Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh to protect the Leuser Ecosystem on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Leuser is the last place on earth where wild tigers, orangutans, elephants and rhinos coexist, and its 2.6 million hectares comprise one of the last remaining intact rainforests in all of Indonesia.
read more
Tech for Parks: Carbon for Forests
Global Conservation’s Carbon for Forests is the first forest-based carbon offset program which directly funds the protection and restoration of tropical forests, using advanced satellite monitoring combined with ISO-standard monitoring and verification.
read more
Tech for Parks: Smart Fence Technology Helps Protect One of the World's Most Endangered Mammals
Global Conservation is funding the construction of a Smart Fence in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), a rhino conservation hotspot and the oldest proclaimed game reserve in Africa. The new fence will detect and deter rhino poachers, protecting HiP’s wildlife and keeping rangers safer.
read more