The Nature Conservancy saves 77,000 acres in Guatemala's Sierra Del Lacandón National Park
The Nature Conservancy recently purchased two major pieces of privately owned land in the Sierra Del Lacandón National Park in Guatemala. These 77,000 acres were the largest privately owned areas in the park. The Lacandón National Park is home to several endangered species such as puma, jaguar, tapir, anteater, howler monkey, ocelot, scarlet macaw and the Moreletti crocodile -- which is unique to this region of Central America.
While Sierra Del Lacandón was declared a national park in 1990, these two pieces of land were held by private landowners. The two properties, called "Naranjitos I and II," were two of the largest intact and biologically diverse tracts of privately owned rainforest remaining in Guatemala. They also contain several Mayan ruins and are home to cenotes -- water-filled limestone sink holes filled with endemic species. Lacandón encompasses large stands of broad leaf subtropical rainforest, unique geological formations, freshwater lakes, mountain ranges and low-lying savanna plains.
This $2.4 million deal was reached by the Conservancy and long-time partner Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza, a Guatemalan organization established in 1983 to promote the protection, conservation and sustainable use of the country's natural resources. According to the purchase agreement, the Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza will own and manage the land while the Conservancy assists by providing stewardship and technical assistance. The Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza currently manages four of Guatemala's national parks, representing 5% of the country's territory and 80 percent of known flora and fauna.
In 2000, the Conservancy and Defensores developed a conservation strategy for the Lacandón Park. During this process, the two groups identified Naranjitos I and II as priority areas and began working toward purchasing them and expanding the park.
The Conservancy has been helping to conserve biodiversity in Guatemala for the past 16 years. During this time we have worked closely with local organizations and in collaboration with communities and the national government.
The park is in the Maya Forest, a 13.3 million acre region shared by Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, home to the most significant big cat population in North America and the largest jaguar habitat outside of the Amazon.
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Comments: 8
Thank you for making Guatemala live up to their name - land of eternal spring. "el pais de primavera eterna"
That region is definately worth preserving!
Thanks for all the effort that went into this achievement.
I enjoyed the links you provided.
Thanks.
http://www.sierralacandon.org/people-organizations.html
http://www.sierralacandon.org/resources-links.html
Strange also that the orginal press release on your Web sites says that Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza will own the land, but here you have changed the words to "manage." Who really owns this land? If it is your organization or Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza then this is not public land nor a national park but rather another private holding which can be sold off in the future. This wouldn't leave the people of Guatemala anything.
Our Guatemala liaison with Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza has not contacted them for a link to our site yet, but plans to do so soon. You can see TNC listed on this page, in regards to our partnership with them in Sierra del Lacandón park.
And it turns out the original press release is correct -- Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza will, indeed, own and manage the land. The text for this post on Gather was taken from another source, which was incorrect. Thanks to your due diligence, Preston, I'll be updating both this article on Gather and the page on The Nature Conservancy's web site to make everything clear.