Protecting the natural and cultural resources of Laguna del Tigre Natural Park

Fire is the traditional tool used by campesinos in Petén and most tropical areas of the world for many generations. It’s normally done by clearing natural forest or the 7-8 year old patches of secondary forest that were agriculture fields before and working milpas; the so called slash-and-burn agriculture system. When it gets out of hand, fire turns into natural disasters such as loss of crops and loss of nearby forests and their biodiversity. ProPetén, though its Scarlet Macaw Biological Station, has been working with three communities residing in the southeast of the Laguna del Tigre National Park (LTNP) for 12 years now, giving basic environmental education, providing with sustainable agriculture means and consolidating community-based organizations in order to fight efficiently forest fires in the area. This area of somewhat 90,000 ha is now the last remnant of natural forest in the 340,000 ha area of the LTNP, within the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala where the rapid change of land use is jeopardizing the biggest wetlands protected area of Guatemala and Central America. The purpose of this project is to protect the natural and cultural resources of the southeast area of Laguna del Tigre Natural Park. The project will conduct the following activities: carrying out risk analysis workshops at the community level, strengthening forest fires commitees and organizing forest management training courses, thus providing with adequate tools for attemting successful forest fire prevention campaigns. The main results after the project wil be 3 communities with organized forest firest brigades and committees with personnel that has participated in different workshops oriented to forest fire prevention and management (i.e. agricultural use).

Three communities have been involved in realizing the goals of this project – reducing forest fires in the 'Lagoon of the Tiger’ national park (Péten, Guatemala). The communities analysed the causes and threats of forest fires and made plans to reduce their effect. The analysis included mapping the location of fires in the past and identifying risks for specific areas. Additionally, the communities received training and equipment for fire control and established commissions responsible for combating forest fires. The community made an action plan for combating fires and agreed upon personal responsibilities for conducting the plan. The activities have been organized by ProPéten Foundation in association with the National System of Fire Prevention and Control (SIPECIF) and national council of protected areas (CONAP). The relation between the communities and the park management has improved to some extent due to project activities.