Context
The Selva Maya – a forested region shared by the countries of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico – is the largest tropical rainforest north of the Amazon Basin, teeming with extraordinary biodiversity in over twenty different ecosystems.
The Selva Maya is coming under major threats: the advancing agricultural front, driven primarily by large-scale livestock raising, and forest fires, illegal logging and illegal trade in flora and fauna are steadily reducing the area of rainforest. The key challenge is how best to preserve the Selva Maya over the long term by allowing sustainable use of its natural resources.
With this aim in mind, GIZ is implementing the regional project Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Selva Maya on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in collaboration with the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo, CCAD).
At national level, the Selva Maya project is working together with the responsible nature conservation authorities in all three participating countries. The project is also cooperating with other governmental institutions as well as non-governmental and civil society organisations that likewise pursue the goal of contributing to protecting and sustainably utilising the Selva Maya.
Objective
Governmental and non-governmental actors of all three countries have implemented coordinated measures to protect and sustainably use the Selva Maya.
Approach
The project supports efforts by national partner institutions to improve the legal framework governing management of nature conservation areas. At the same time it identifies ways and means for combining resource conservation with sustainable use, thereby creating alternative sources of income for local inhabitants from wood and non-wood forest products, and in suitable areas also from sustainable agricultural and livestock production.
At regional level, the project supports work to develop common strategies aimed at fostering local and transnational cooperation between Belize, Guatemala and Mexico. In addition, the project promotes efforts to spread good practices that contribute to preserving while sustainably using the Selva Maya.