Join the international conservation community in an urgent effort
to protect Guatemala's Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve from
Destructive Logging!
Below is a translation of a request to conservationists from
Andreas Lehnhoff, executive director of Defensores de la Naturaleza
(Defenders of Nature) in Guatemala City.
Guatemalans need your urgent support to protect the Sierra de las
Minas Biosphere Reserve. A public scandal in the national media
recently exploded regarding the devastation in this reserve.
Please send faxes as soon as possible to the politicians on the
list below, demanding that they immediately stop the destruction of
the primary forest in the core zone of the Sierra de las Minas
Biosphere Reserve. We need your help to protect this irreplaceable
jewel of the natural heritage of Guatemala and Central America.
BACKGROUND:
Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve was established by Guatemalan
Congressional decree and since 1993 has been part of the
international network of biosphere reserves designated by UNESCO.
This protected area, comprised of 236,000 hectares (582,920 acres)
and with heights that surpass 3,000 meters, is located in northeast
Guatemala. It contains more biological diversity' than anywhere
else in Guatemala: 70 percent of all the mammals, birds and
reptiles found in Guatemala and Belize. It also contains the
largest cloudforest in Central America, habitat of the resplendent
quetzal. It is considered the most important source of drinking
water in Guatemala and the most important germplasm bank for
tropical pine in the world.
In spite of the fact it is prohibited by law, in the core zone of
the reserve a group of loggers -- supported by DIGEBOS, or the
Direccion General de Bosques (Forestry Department) of the Ministry
of Agriculture -- continue to exploit these ancient and
irreplaceable forests, intimidating those who oppose the
destruction. This exploitation is in direct violation of many
articles of the Protected Areas Law, with the additional grievance
that DIGEBOS does not have jurisdiction in protected areas.
If we do not do something now, the result will be the degradation
of the last vestiges of primary cloudforest in Guatemala and the
depletion of an essential water source for the people who live in
the arid Motagua Valley, south of the reserve.
Please help us so this does not happen!
Please send a fax to the following people, demanding the immediate
suspension of the exploitation of the Sierra de las Minas
cloudforest.
Lic. Ramiro de Leon Carpio
Presidente de la Republica de Guatemala
fax: 502-2/29-968
Lic. Acisclo Valladares Molina
Procurador General de la Nacion
Republica de Guatemala
Su Despacho
Fax: 502-2/53-0482
Lic. Luis Arturo del Valle
Ministro de Agricultura
Republica de Guatemala
Su Despacho
Fax: 502-2/53-6807
General Mario Enriquez
Ministro de la Defensa
Republica de Guatemala
Fax: 502-2/21-906
General Efrain Rios Montt
Presidente
Congreso de la REpublica de Guatemala
Fax: 502-2/51-0353
Lic. Enma Diaz
Secretaria Ejecutiva
Consejo Nacional de Areas Protegidas
Fax: 502-2/53-7612
Doctor Otoniel Aquino
Director General
DIGEBOS
Fax: 502-2/73-5211