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GUATEMALA: MAYAN BIOSPHERE UNDER SIEGE.

Article Excerpt
The Mayan Biosphere, a system of natural and cultural sites for which the government of Guatemala and a host of tourism-oriented businesses hold hopes of economic salvation, is in process of becoming a wasteland. The biosphere is the victim of forest fires burning out of control, looting of hardwoods and other treasures, clear-cutting, agriculture, cattle grazing, and drug-running. A government incapable or unwilling to intercede in the destruction rounds out the picture.

The fires started in March. Despite desperate calls from local residents and companies engaged in forest-related business, the government, besides declaring an emergency, reacted lethargically. The blazes quickly became a "crisis of grand proportions," in the words of the director of the Asociacion Gremial Forestal de Guatemala, Otto Becker. Becker blamed the government for having reduced funding for firefighting to the point that now, the authorities "are acting late, and in a very limited way, because of a lack of funds, equipment, and personnel."

President Alfonso Portillo had announced in mid-March, weeks before Becker made his remarks, that he had authorized about US$1 million to fight the blazes, but with thousands of hectares charred, there was scant evidence that the money had been spent effectively, if at all.

Fires raged out of control in Peten, Zacapa, Quiche, Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango, Izabal, and elsewhere. About 25% of the fires were centered in protected areas. One such is the Laguna del Tigre, near the Mexican...

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