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Selva Maya, 4 June 2021 (UICN). In celebration of World Environment Day on 5 June, ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� (International Union for Conservation of Nature) reports on some of the outcomes of the Selva Maya Natural Resources Protection Project, supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ for its abbreviation in German) through the German Development Bank (KfW).

The Selva Maya Natural Resources Protection Project is implemented by ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� together with the protected areas institutions of the three countries comprising Selva Maya (Belize, Guatemala and Mexico): the Belize Forest Department, Guatemala’s National Council for Protected Areas (Spanish acronym CONAP) and Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Spanish acronym CONANP).

Selva Maya is considered the largest tropical forest in Meso America, whose diversity is safeguarded in 230 protected areas across 124,456.97 km². Extending over Belize, northern Guatemala and south-eastern Mexico, it is a block of forest harbouring globally important biodiversity and major sites of archaeological and cultural heritage.

Eric Ecker / UICN

La Selva Maya es considerada el bosque tropical más extenso en Mesoamérica.

The project’s main lines of work, which began in 2017, has focussed firstly on promoting conservation and effective management of the 16 protected areas considered priorities in the frame of this project. The second line of work is improving connectivity among these protected areas by preventing and controlling forest fires, promoting the restoration of rural landscape and supporting sustainable production undertakings. Third, is to boost inter-institutional coordination through the Selva Maya Strategic Coordination Group (Spanish acronym GEC), which is composed of representatives of the three countries’ protected area agencies working to maintain the forest’s ecosystem functions and cultural values, and to promote the population’s well-being.

Eric Ecker / UICN

Producción de miel en Parque Nacional Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo, Guatemala

The ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Regional Director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Úrsula Parrilla, emphasised that the project’s achievements are the result of joint and complementary efforts by the authorities of the protected areas, civil society, local communities and organisations that co-manage the protected areas we have been working with to conserve Selva Maya and forge a model – and global flagship – of shared governance.

She also stressed the Project’s support to update and implement seven management plans for the prioritised protected areas, and for the prevention and control of fires and deforestation. Parilla underscored that “62.5% of the 16 priority protected areas have gained forest cover during the project intervention period.  Areas with the most significant gains in forest cover include the three prioritised protected areas in Mexico: Sian Ka´an Biosphere Reserve, Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and Bala'an K´aax Flora and Fauna Protection Area”.

From 2017 to 2020, the rate of deforestation in the project’s prioritised protected areas was 0.0015, versus -0.0030 outside them. This demonstrates a positive effect on conservation of forest cover within the protected areas.

One of the other major achievements in the project’s four years has been the strengthening of institutional coordination among Belize, Guatemala and Mexico through the Strategic Coordination Group. Finally, the Director reported that the German Government will continue supporting the project in a second part, providing 20 million Euros to reinforce work already begun in the first. In this second phase the aim is also to expand geographic coverage and coordination of work with the institutions in charge of cultural and archaeological heritage in Selva Maya.

Despite these efforts, Selva Maya still faces large threats that compromise its sustainability and functionality in the medium and long term, primarily change in soil use and degradation caused by agricultural activities, forest fires, illegal logging and illicit trade of flora and fauna species in most of the zone. That it is shared by several countries heightens the challenge and the need to implement joint strategies for mitigating these threats, just as the Selva Maya Natural Resources Protection Project aims to do. With a second phase, this work can continue and the positioning of Selva Maya as globally important ecosystem can be consolidated.

#WeAreSelvaMaya

For more information: 

Nancy Arroyo: [email protected]

Adriana Apud [email protected]

About ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ��

������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,400 Member organisations and the input of more than 18,000 experts. ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.