Cooperating to Save Guatemalan Cultural Heritage

http://www.guatemala-times.com/culture/maya/2052-el-mirador-guatemala-saving-the-cradle-of-mayan-civilization.html

posted April 25 by Elmer :)

The article describes the combined efforts of several important national and international foundations to preserve an area of Guatemala that harbors a portion of the greatest and earliest Mayan cultural treasures, as well as the last tract of virgin rainforest in Central America. Long beset by drug-trafficking interests and poverty, the degradation to be reversed is enormous. Much of the monuments have been looted, the wildlife poached, and already 70% of the forest leveled in a slash-and-burn manner. What with the Global Heritage Fund, the United States Department of the Interior, and PACUNAM (representing the Guatemalan private sector) all throwing money at this project, what is most surprising and interesting to discover is the key element played by local communities in the long-term plan for conservation. Residents of nearby villages have been trained and employed as guides and park rangers, ready to "police illegal activities." Where once they were forced by their impoverished situation into being the looters and the poachers, now their loyalty is earned with a living wage, health care and education. The scale of the problem is too large to be perfectly managed, but at sites where GHF and its partners can afford to employ locals, the land is successfully protected. It is fascinating how the problem becomes the solution when approached in a humanistic way.

http://globalheritagefund.org/onthewire/blog/mirador_guatemala

http://www.pacunam.org/