Global Conservation Releases New Video: Defending Mirador National Park, Guatemala

Global Conservation has recently released a new video highlighting the urgent threats to Mirador National Park, Guatemala. Watch the video here, and read the transcript below:

Background

Earlier this year, US Senators reinforced their support for the Mirador-Calakmul Maya Security and Conservation Partnership Act of 2019 (S3131). The bipartisan bill, supported additionally by a coalition of the Guatemalan Congress and Presidency, Guatemalan community and tourism associations, international environmental conservation groups, scientists, and others, presents a new vision for conservation and development in the Mirador-Calakmul Basin.

The proposed legislation would support national park protection, community-based tourism development of the Mirador-Calakmul Basin, a Cultural and Natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of the Maya Biosphere. 

With over a million acres of intact, old-growth tropical forest and some of the most important Mayan archaeological sites in the world, Mirador-Calakmul is unique; no other UNESCO World Heritage Site or national park has such vast wilderness combined with such depth of cultural heritage. These traits offer nearly unlimited potential for community-driven economic development paired with long-term conservation and scientific discovery.

Mirador offers a wealth of natural and cultural treasures.

Originally introduced to the US Congress on December 19, 2019, the proposed legislation seeks $72 million in funding from the U.S. Government over a period of six years. The Central American Development Bank (BCIE) has committed to match this amount to fund infrastructure, for a total of $144 million. It would establish a significant international partnership between Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States, among others, and would be the first program of its kind for Central America.

The development of a sustainable eco-tourism model for Mirador-Calakmul could potentially generate billions of dollars in tourism revenue for Guatemala and Mexico. Nearby Tikal National Park already generates over $220 million a year in tourism revenues and provides thousands of jobs for local communities. Mirador-Calakmul could easily surpass this, providing a 30-fold increase in economic participation by surrounding communities and a projected 3,000 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs.

Boosting employment opportunities for local people is a key goal of Senate Bill S3131.

Tourists will be drawn to Mirador-Calakmul’s astonishing biodiversity; its pyramids, which are the largest in the world; the world’s first paved causeways; the archaeological evidence of the first nation-state of the Americas; and the remains of what was possibly the largest city on the planet during its time. Currently, these treasures are inaccessible, visited only by those who trek through the rainforest or who can afford to travel by helicopter.

With the funds that would be raised under S3131, museums, visitor centers, and other infrastructure will be constructed, and incentives offered for eco-lodge development. A miniature train will allow tourist access to the ancient Maya cities, without necessitating the construction of roads that could allow access for illegal activities. The program would also allow scientific research of the areas cultural and biological heritage, as well as providing $2 million annually each to Guatemala and Mexico to provide for law enforcement operations.

Funding for law enforcement is critical to protect Mirador from poachers and narco-traffickers.

Despite legal protection, Mirador-Calakmul is currently threatened by massive deforestation for cattle pastures. This destruction is driven by narcotics traffickers, who use large ranching operations to launder money. This region is also an important stopover for planes trafficking drugs from Colombia to North America.

Global Conservation strongly supports this bill as a way to secure the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the Mirador-Calakmul Basin for generations to come. You can help by writing to your representatives in Congress and asking them to support Senate Bill S3131. Look up your representatives here.

An ocelot stalks the rainforests of the Mirador-Calakmul Basin.

Film Script: Defending Mirador National Park

Tropical forests are burning in Guatemala. Historic droughts and illegal land clearing in the Northern Petén region now threatens Mirador National Park. Many of the park’s endangered wildlife species are on the brink of extinction. 

The most significant archeological sites in Mesoamerica exist in El Mirador, many being meticulously restored while others remain in states of arrested decay. This important work has been nearly curtailed as rangers battle the purposely-set fires, while also under the threat of a global pandemic. The Mirador National Park Genesys program is led by Francisco Asturias. Francisco is Director of FundaEco, Global Conservation’s NGO partner in Guatemala where he supervises the protection of over 660,000 acres of endangered forests and archeological treasures. 

Francisco: “There are no natural fires in Petén. Fires in Petén are 99% made by humans. Two reasons; for cattle and usually it’s narco ganaderos we call them. And also poor people, communities invaders of the national parks. Also they fire the forests so the next year they will plant their corn to survive.” 

What once was the cradle of a sprawling Maya civilization is now the largest intact forest and wildlife habitat remaining in Central America. Hidden in the depths of this verdant forest are over forty ancient Maya cities, containing elaborate temples and some of the largest pyramids on earth. Connecting them, just beneath tree roots winding through thick black soil, are hundreds of miles of ancient plastered roads that once glowed limestone-white, connecting an area larger than Yellowstone National Park.

Mirador National Park contains large populations of jaguar, alongside puma, tapir, and other critical species.  

Francisco has been a long-time conservationist who served as Director of Mirador National Park from 2014 to 2017. He has been working with local communities for nearly forty years. In 2016, he inspired a film about jaguar conservation. Francisco Asturias is a born leader who has made a difference everywhere he has worked in Guatemala.

Bill SB3131 now in the US Congress has the potential to fund $150 million over 10 years to support the conservation and sustainable development of Mirador National Park. This funding has the potential to generate thousands of new jobs and income for one of the world’s poorest countries, while increasing protections for the archaeological sites of Petén. 

Francisco: “What we need here a lot is the resources. We’ve been working here for many many years and we know what to do. What we don’t have is the resources. So if this law goes through we will have more rangers. We can hire rangers from Carmelita and Uaxactun communities. There will be a lot of patrols so we can have control of the area. So definitely that law needs to be passed because there is no other way. There is no other light that we can see that will help us to get all the money that we need to do our work in here.”

FundaEco and the Mirador Park Rangers are working together to stop wildlife poaching, looting of archaeological sites, illegal logging, and land clearing for cattle ranching by narco traffickers. With support from Global Conservation and the Global Park Defense system, they are slowing down the destruction of the park by making arrests and fighting fires. These rangers are a combined team of government police and military, NGO-trained rangers, and community Ecoguards using the SMART patrol system. Global Conservation is seeking UNESCO World Heritage designation for Mirador and pursuing land acquisition strategies to expand the park boundaries.

Jeff: “So we’re really trying to organize the best talent of the world like Dr. Eric Dinerstein who was Chief Scientist for World Wildlife Fund for many years. These people are helping us focus our program on park and wildlife protection. But real field protection. Instead of talking about it or planning it, we’re actually helping these countries protect their parks on the ground. So training, equipment, systems. Really bringing Silicon Valley systems to third world countries and helping them save their parks.”  

What happened to the ancient Maya civilization that once ruled these forests? Two thousand years ago, this civilization collapsed in the wake of ecological disaster. The swamps that supported their farms with nutrient-rich mud were killed by clay runoff caused by wholesale deforestation of the surrounding area. The Maya had been destroying the forest for firewood to make limestone plaster to decorate their plazas and pyramids, an extravagance that eventually led to their own demise. We aim to preserve El Mirador’s history but not to repeat it, instead conserving forests and wetlands in perpetuity.

Your support is critical to the success of Francisco Asturias and his rangers as they protect endangered wildlife, the last tropical forests in Central America, and the irreplaceable remnants of the great Maya civilization. Please visit our website to show your support and get involved today.

A puma and her kittens in the Mirador-Calakmul Basin.