Some fires are also started on land that’s already been cleared, as families prepare for a new crop. But the hotter and drier it is, the higher the chance that those fires get out of hand and spread to primary forest. Even a few days of occasional rain can limit those accidents, the officials said, while a month without rain can mean disaster.
Combating El Niño requires money and labor. Patrols have to be carried out to maintain firebreaks and hold informal settlements at bay while other officials have to travel to the far reaches of the reserve to keep fires contained. CONAP’s dwindling budget has been a problem for years, though. And there’s growing concern that the needs of the reserve will fall by the wayside as Guatemala struggles through a government transition.
Dark-horse candidate Bernardo Arévalo, running on an anticorruption platform, won the presidency in August, but the outgoing government has tried invalidating his political party and carrying out raids on electoral officials, creating fears that there won’t be a peaceful transition of power in January.
Even if everything goes smoothly, a government transition could complicate conservation efforts in the reserve. Confirmation on what the annual budget will be usually takes longer. New officials replace the old ones, and they either don’t know the issues or want to implement their own strategies, which can take up a lot of time, the CONAP official said.
“But the advantage we have today is that there’s already a prevention strategy in place,” the official said. “We have a fire prevention plan.”
Banner image: The forest from above in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Photo courtesy of ACOFOP.
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Source link : https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/guatemala-braces-for-unprecedented-year-of-deforestation-in-maya-reserve/
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Publish date : 2023-11-30 03:00:00
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