{"id":2743,"date":"2016-06-20T05:07:13","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T13:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=2743&lang=en"},"modified":"2016-06-20T05:07:13","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T13:07:13","slug":"forest-fires-set-by-drug-traffickers-threaten-guatemalas-virgin-forest-and-archaeological-wonders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/environment\/forest-fires-set-by-drug-traffickers-threaten-guatemalas-virgin-forest-and-archaeological-wonders\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest fires set by drug traffickers threaten Guatemala\u2019s virgin forest and archaeological wonders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forest fires devastated at least 80 square kilometers of preserved forest in Pet\u00e9n before the rains of June 4th<\/sup> and 5th<\/sup> put most of them out. The Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency to battle the fires.<\/p>\n

Guatemala\u2019s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources said, \u201cthe hand of man caused\u201d the fires and blamed \u201cencroaching groups\u201d for the disaster in the protected Maya Biosphere Reserve.<\/p>\n

Alma Polanco, the head of the National Council for Protected Areas of Pet\u00e9n, blamed drug trafficking organizations<\/a> (DTOs) for the fires. She explained that \u201cnarco-farmers\u201d (\u201cnarcoganaderos<\/em>\u201d) set fires to clear land in protected areas to create landing strips for drug shipments, pastureland for cattle, and cleared land for African palm plantations, which are increasingly popular and profitable ways for DTOs to launder money.<\/p>\n

Polanco added, \u201cIf we don\u2019t stop this in the next few years, there will be nothing left of the Reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Livestock, especially cattle<\/a>, is at once a key driver of rising food prices, climate change, and deforestation in Guatemala and globally. It is also increasingly raised by DTOs.<\/p>\n

The six million-acre Maya Biosphere Reserve is full of ancient cities. Until recently, an anthropological consensus held that Tikal-area cities that date to around 600 AD were founded around then by migrants from central Mexico, given the lack of previous major settlements in the area. Then, excavation at the El Mirador site near Guatemala\u2019s northern border with Mexico uncovered an even bigger Maya city with a temple several times bigger than Tikal\u2019s largest structure. The city dates to before 500 BCE, when as many as a million people may have inhabited the area.<\/p>\n

To get there, most visitors hike for two to three days from one of Pet\u00e9n\u2019s northernmost towns. Each night, they camp next to one of dozens of different ancient Maya cities in the Mirador Basin area of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, which boasts an area of over 2,000 square kilometers. The basin is home to five different kinds of tropical forest, while the Tikal area has just two.<\/p>\n

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Many of these ancient cities yet to be excavated are in danger of being damaged by fires<\/a>. Despite the basin\u2019 status as the last large intact forest in Central America, its incredible biodiversity that includes over 180 species of birds, its endangered species like jaguars, and its archaeological marvels, man-made fires are common there as they are throughout Pet\u00e9n. Richard Hansen, the lead archaeologist at El Mirador, says that satellite data<\/a> show that the Yucatan peninsula is losing 500 square kilometers of \u201cvirgin forest\u201d every year and that the Mirador Basin is in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

In the first five months of 2016 alone, Guatemala\u2019s Forest Fire Control and Prevention System registered 116 forest fires<\/a> in Pet\u00e9n.<\/p>\n

Tomas Barrientos, an archaeologist excavating at a site in southwest Pet\u00e9n called \u201cLa Corona<\/em>,\u201d explained<\/a> that \u201cpeople are taking advantage\u201d of this year\u2019s extended dry season, a likely symptom of climate change, \u201cto burn the forest and then invade it\u2026 These are methods of intimidation by illegal invaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"incendio\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Facebook, the La Corona <\/em>Regional Archaeological Project published a heartfelt plea<\/a> in response to the recent fires:<\/p>\n

In lowland Maya archaeology, we are privileged to work in one of the most amazing and fantastical places in the world. The northern jungles of Peten Guatemala are full of surprise, beauty, and wonder. Every year, I relish working here despite the many inconveniences and difficulties.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>However, this privilege comes at a great cost. Working here, we are, in some way or another, implicated and responsible for its preservation. Perhaps among the hardest things I have ever done (physically, mentally, and even emotionally) has been to work and monitor our fire-break lines to the west of La Corona. These are “brechas” that hard working and caring people of WCS, CONAP, the Guatemalan army, and our small archaeological project have made, maintained, or re-done in response to annual out-of-control fires that are often set deliberately to the west of us. These defensive efforts are extraordinary, and those who coordinate and go out in the jungle to cut these brechas a eco-heroes. We owe these folks our forests.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Yesterday, I went and inspected one of these fire lines and, as always, my heart groaned and strained under the weight of what devastation these needless fires have wrought to pristine jungle. In my 10 years of working at Corona, almost every year we have beaten back encroaching flames. And every year, it hurts to see the ash, feel the heat, and smell the charred forest. It feels like what I imagine hell would be.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>We do many important things as archaeologists; but I consider our collaboration with all these dedicated folks from WCS, CONAP, and the Guatemalan military to make a stand and “hold the line” against these fires to be one of our most important responsibilities here. I am glad I can be a small part of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>My excursion yesterday out to the front lines serves a grim reminder that if we want to have a Peten for our children, our students, our climate, this effort cannot fail.<\/em><\/p>\n

The 2014 article \u201cDrug Policy as Conservation Policy<\/a>\u201d in the journal Science<\/em> explains that Mexican cartels increasingly receive \u201cprimary\u201d (direct) shipments of cocaine in Guatemala and Honduras due to their \u201cporous borders, corruption, and weak public institutions.\u201d In eastern Honduras and Guatemala\u2019s Pet\u00e9n, \u201can unprecedented number of primary cocaine flows into the region coincided with a period of extensive forest loss.\u201d In parts of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, increased DTO activity has led to annual forest loss as high as 10%.<\/p>\n

\"incendio3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Local \u201cranchers, oil-palm growers, land speculators, and timber traffickers become involved in drug trafficking, they are narco-capitalized and emboldened and so greatly expand their activities.\u201d Indigenous and peasant groups with legitimate claims to land in protected areas \u201creport being powerless against the bribes, property fraud, and brutality dispossessing them of their lands.\u201d Meanwhile, DTOs have \u201cpowerful new incentives\u201d to try to clear and occupy as much strategic land as possible: they can launder money through cattle and palm oil operations and keep valuable real estate from competitors.<\/p>\n

The article uses research from the Organization of American States\u2019 2013 report \u201cThe Drug Problem in the Americas<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forest fires devastated at least 80 square kilometers of preserved forest in Pet\u00e9n before the rains of June 4th and 5th put most of them out. The Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency to battle the fires. Guatemala\u2019s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources said, \u201cthe hand of man caused\u201d the fires and blamed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[426,415,417,453,420],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corruption","category-environment","category-forests","category-frontpage-en","category-megaprojects-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2752,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions\/2752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}