Diversified Forest Management as a Strategy for Conservation, Selva Maya, Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico)
The Selva Maya (the Mayan Forest) is a biologically and culturally rich forest located in an area comprised of southeastern Mexico and northern Belize and Guatemala; it is one of the largest tracts of rainforest in the Americas second only to the Amazon. PPI's Conservation and Managed Habitats program is working with local communities to identify income generation activities derived from the forest and thereby create economic alternatives to deforestation.
PPI is working in the Ejido Veinte de Noviembre, a small community of Mayan descent, located in the Mexican state of Campeche in the southern Yucatan Peninsula. The ejido is situated in an area known as the Great Calakmul region, a place of great biological importance due to its high plant and animal diversity. Along with other communities, it forms a forest corridor that connects the reserves of Sian Ka'an and Calakmul and is thus considered of the utmost importance for conservation. It is a small indigenous community with few demographic pressures inhabiting a highly diverse forest. However, before the ejido took control of forest extraction, the forests in the area suffered intense, highly selective, uncontrolled an destructive extraction which resulted in the forest being depleted of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) and cedar (Cedrela odorata), two of the most highly sought after wood species in the region.
The overarching goal of our project has been to increase the contribution of forest-based income-generating activities to local people's livelihoods in order to maintain and increase their interest in conserving the forest and its biodiversity for the long term. On the basis of the expressed interests and needs of the inhabitants of the Ejido, and the market potential, PPI has focussed on two forest-based income-generating activities, native bee-keeping and value-added carpentry from managed timber resources:
Meliponiculture-stingless beekeeping
PPI reintroduced meliponiculture which uses native stingless bees, mainly Melipona beecheii which have been
Taking the brood and honey from the tree trunk, Mexico. Photo: S. Puratadomesticated by the Maya for hundreds of years. Even though there are still a number of producers in the Yucatan Peninsula, this activity has declined dramatically over the past 50 years because of the introduction of the more productive European bees, as well as the unwillingness of the younger generations to become involved with this form of traditional honey production which has lead to the loss of management techniques. Thus, this project has both ecological and cultural value while contributing to the maintenance of biological diversity. Moreover, the honey from the stingless bees can be transformed into products with a high added value (such as creams, salves, etc.) as well as used or marketed as products with a medicinal value (pollen, propoleum, eye drops, etc.)
 Moving the brood to the box, Mexico. Photo: S. Purata Harvesting the honey after transferring the brood, Mexico. Photo: S. Purata |
Wooden handicrafts using local forest species
PPI is working with the community to create wooden handicrafts with a Mayan identity that will appeal to tourists. The woodworkers are taught different woodworking techniques such as turning, carving and branding. PPI conducted a market survey to identify what kinds of products would have the largest appeal to a tourist market. A catalog of the products will also be produced. To learn more about the handicrafts available for purchase, or about the program, please contact Silvia Purata at puratas@mac.com
Wooden bowls and boxes, Mexico. Photos: S. Purata
