A village in the western highlands of Guatemala is the first in the country to win official protection for its remaining municipal rainforest. Last April, the National Council of Protected Areas declared the 19-square-mile forest a "Regional Park," a designation that should help local officials fight illegal logging and hunting.
The Interamerican Foundation for Tropical Research (FIIT), a Guatemalan conservation group, is now helping Zunil civic leaders assess how residents can use the forest's resources without causing ecological damage.
FIIT biologists have worked in Zunil and neighboring villages -- an area known as Three Volcanoes -- since 1990. According to project director Luis Gaitan, 95 percent of the income source in Three Volcanos is from vegetable farming.
"Misuse of agrochemicals and inadequate farming practices have caused serious environmental problems," he says.
Villagers' garden plots are laid out like a giant checkerboard on steep hillsides -- the lowlands are mostly owned by the wealthy. Erosion and chemical runoff have ravaged streams, so clean water is scarce. Firewood collectors have deforested many slopes, exacerbating erosion, which threatens to choke the turbines of a nearby dam.
At his desk beneath a large painting of Zunil's town seal, which prominently features a local crop -- green onions -- the vice mayor emphasizes that local politicians are serious about stopping environmental degradation. "Our people want a healthy future," asserts Francisco Chay Xivir.
With funding from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), FIIT offers workshops in low-impact farming to local residents, who are Quiche and speak Spanish as a second language. "Many can't read the labels on the chemicals they use," says Gaitan. FIIT also gives environmental education classes in area schools.
To help assess the biodiversity value of Three Volcanoes' highland forests, FIIT conducts ornithological research, thanks to funding from WWF and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Biologists have counted some 260 bird species, including the endangered solitary eagle and Guatemala's national symbol, the resplendent quetzal. These rainforests are also important to migratory birds, which fly down from their nesting grounds in the United States and Canada.
Official recognition of Zunil's forests may be the start of an important trend to conserve the remnants of rainforest owned by other Guatemalan municipalities. Civic leaders from nearby Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in the country, have asked FIIT to help them establish a forest reserve as well.
Contact: FIIT, Av. Hincapie, 31-31 Zona 13, Mision del Fortin, Apdo. 106, Guatemala, 502-2/333-3555.
This article is provided from the Rainforest Alliance's Tropical Conservation Newsbureau, based in San Jose,Costa Rica. For more information, contact Diane Jukofsky or Chris Wille, Rainforest Alliance, Apdo. 138-2150, Moravia, San Jose, Costa Rica; Phone: 506-240-9383; Fax: 506-240-2543; Email: infotrop@sol.racsa.co.cr
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