In Guatemala, UNHCR Funding Training of Refugees as Rangers

Central America is suffering a refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of migrants passing through in recent years on their way to the U.S. Often, migrants are unable to cross the border into the U.S. or to return home, leaving them stranded in Mexico or Guatemala. Global Conservation's partners in Guatemala, FUNDAECO, are now implementing a revolutionary new program that will help refugees while simultaneously boosting capacity for conservation.

FUNDAECO is an NGO that works on conservation projects and national parks across the country, and assists local communities in obtaining illegal titles to their land. They realized that their project sites are along the migratory path for refugees coming from Nicaragua and Honduras, and they began to assist by treating migrants in FUNDAECO clinics. Now, they’re working with UNHCR to develop a program called “Empleos Verdes”, which will give refugees “green jobs” that will give them the capacity to resettle. Consistent employment gives refugees a sense of dignity and the capacity to contribute to their new community, important factors for those who can’t return back home.

Mirador National Park is near a migration route for refugees fleeing from Honduras and Nicaragua or even traveling through Central America on their way from Cuba or Africa.

One of the first refugees employed under this program is Raul Gomez (not his real name). Gomez was forced to leave his home country of Honduras when local gangs told him he would have to join or die, and he fled to Guatemala with less than $5. Other refugees have been forced to leave home due to climate change or to seek better economic opportunities.

When Gomez arrived in Petén, a state in northern Guatemala, he was hired by FUNDAECO to work as a ranger in Mirador National Park. Like other refugees in this program, he was trained in specialized skills, like identifying plant and animal species, setting up camera traps, and moving through the rainforest noiselessly. 

“I feel super grateful because I never thought I would have such a beautiful opportunity,” Gomez told Mongabay. “To take care of the Maya Biosphere is something amazing. When you come from another country you don’t think you can have an opportunity like this, and when I did I was speechless.”

Mirador National Park, part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, contains a stunningly biodiverse rainforest ecosystem. Large populations of elusive jaguar and threatened white-lipped peccary live here, alongside pumas, tapirs, ocelots, agoutis, brocket deer, and rare harpy eagles. Mirador's southern limestone cliffs are the last place in the world with viable populations of the orange-breasted falcon. Mirador is also on a critical flyway for birds migrating from central and eastern North America. It also has a rich cultural history; the ruins of the ancient Maya city of El Mirador lie here, including the impressive La Danta pyramid, the most voluminous in the world.

Unfortunately, the park is threatened by myriad pressures, including logging, road construction, illegal farming and ranching, drug trafficking, and looting of agricultural sites. These newly trained refugees will made an important contribution to defending Mirador. 

So far, FUNDAECO has hired 55 refugees through its collaboration with UNHCR. While most are working in parks like Mirador – in maintenance, in ecotourism, or as rangers – others work in natural areas within Guatemala City. For every refugee it places in a job, FUNDAECO also hires a local Guatemalan. The idea is for the refugees and the Guatemalans to work together, become friends, and create a sense of community.

Eventually, FUNDAECO hopes to hire at least 100 refugees, which is still just a fraction of those who pass through Guatemala or have been forced to stay. Officially, there are estimated to be about 1,200 asylum seekers hoping to settle in Guatemala; unofficially, there are likely to be many more.

FUNDAECO hopes, however, that this program can be a model for rebuilding the Guatemalan economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need a green recovery with green jobs,” FUNDAECO director Marco Cerezo told Mongabay. “Refugees and asylum seekers can support us in that.”