The report concludes that the community forestry concession model generates environmental benefits for society and economic benefits for the communities. For this, resource use and management rights are essential.
March 27, 2019. Petén, Guatemala. A new report supports the work of community forest concessions in Petén, Guatemala, to protect the Maya Biosphere Reserve from threats such as deforestation and forest fires, while generating economic benefits for the communities living there.
The report was presented at a World Bank meeting in Washington, D.C., on March 26.
The results of this report suggest a positive relationship between socio-economic progress (income, investments, savings, capitalization of community enterprises and asset creation at the household and enterprise level) and conservation of concession areas (near zero deforestation rates in active community concessions).
"Communities are the best stewards of threatened natural forests, even in places where corruption is widespread and pressures to change forest use are high. At a time when governments around the world are increasingly ceding rights to local communities, the Maya Biosphere Reserve concessions are a model for how to develop resilient, local economic development based on sustainable forest management." Benjamin Hodgdon, independent researcher and co-author of the report.
Community enterprises generate added value
Covering nearly 2.1 million hectares, the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) is the largest protected area in Central America and home to some 180,000 people, as well as a heritage of global importance for its biodiversity and culture.
According to the report, "Forestry income, its reinvestment and access to local and external financing have allowed community enterprises to diversify their activities, generate greater value added, develop new products and insert them into value chains of timber and non-timber forest products."
Carlos Crasborn, president of the Association of Forest Communities of Petén (ACOFOP), said: "In 25 years the forest concession process has evolved from timber forest management to an integrated natural resource management model. Today, income from timber harvesting and processing is combined with the extraction and marketing of non-timber forest products and the management of the tourism landscape.
El informe además concluye que “la evidencia combinada del desempeño socioeconómico y ambiental de las concesiones de la comunidad es un argumento sólido para la renovación de la concesión, que se debe en los próximos años.»
"The most significant threat at this time is the uncertainty surrounding concession renewal. The fact that there is no clarity with respect to how concessions will be evaluated or what the evaluation and extension process is is an existential concern" Benjamin Hodgdon added.
Parks with people
The community forestry concessions, located in the Multiple Use Zone of the MBR, were given to the communities by the Guatemalan government in the late 1990s and will end in the next few years.
Sustainable natural resource management is the main return to the recognition of community rights. The landscape of forests where there are community rights shows signs of environmental health and social peace. The latter is relevant for countries coming from internal military conflicts. This reality contrasts with the so-called parks without people, where in the face of the difficulties of government agencies to enforce the law, they have devolved into no man's land and face deforestation, degradation, and the presence of illicit activities, on the basis of widespread rural poverty, added Crasborn.
Various reports and evidence have shown that community forestry concessions are vital to the conversation of the MBR. For example, a report on Deforestation Trends in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, presented in 2015 by several organizations, states that deforestation rates were 1.0% in the Core Zone, 0.4% in the Multiple Use Zone and 5.5% in the Buffer Zone. Paradoxically, the Core Zone, where only tourism and research activities are allowed, has a higher deforestation rate than the Multiple Use Zone, where concessions are located and communities carry out sustainable management.
The report led by Bioversity International was supported by USAID's Climate, Nature and Communities in Guatemala Project (CNCG) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in close collaboration with the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP), the Association of Forest Communities of Petén (ACOFOP) and other local organizations.
