| Fast Facts |
location
day’s drive from Mérida and Cancún
ecoregions
Yucatán Dry Forests, Yucatán Moist Forests, Petén-Véracruz Moist Forests
project size
10 million acres
public lands
48 percent of the reserve is federally owned; the remainder is owned by ejidos, communally owned land collectives
partners
Pronatura Peninsula National Commission for Natural Protected Areas, local landowners, state government of Campeche
conservancy initiatives
Global Climate Change
natural events
as many as 5 billion birds pass through on their migrations, winter | |
 | |
 |
|
|
| The dense green embrace of the reincarnated Maya Forest has preserved thousands of temples and stone structures at Calakmul, one of the seats of power of the ancient Maya Empire. |
|
 |
Temple, Maya Forest.
© Tom Till |
|
The forest of Calakmul sprawls across the southern state of Campeche in the Yucatán Peninsula—once the thriving heart of the Maya Empire. Calakmul was the political rival of nearby Tikal, in Guatemala. At its height, from A.D. 500 through the next 400 years, Calakmul supported a population of as many as 50,000 before the civilization crashed, some believe because of heavy deforestation. Although the Maya culture lives on in its people, the great temples, pyramids and palaces of the past—more than 6,000 structures altogether—have long been engulfed by green jungle, now the protected expanse of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
The reserve anchors the northern end of the humid lowland jungle known as the Maya Forest, which stretches south into Guatemala and Belize. At more than 5.5 million acres, this is the Americas’ largest remaining expanse of tropical forest north of the Amazon. It is inhabited by jaguar, puma and howler monkeys. It sustains crested guan, jabiru stork and some 400 other species of birds, including many migratory ones like the indigo bunting and scarlet tanager that winter in the Yucatán. |
Mantled howler monkey.
© Kevin Schafer/kevinschafer.com |
|
The same riotous vegetation that has obscured the ruins has also saved them, shielding them from exploitation for decades. Beginning in the early 20th century, people came to harvest chiclé, or gum resin, and later mahogany and Spanish cedar. Since the 1970s, another wave of immigrants has come searching for land and opportunity, often escaping | |
political unrest and natural disaster. They bring with them slash-and-burn agriculture and demands for new roads and water supplies.
For the past decade, The Nature Conservancy has worked with Mexican conservation organization Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatán to protect Calakmul. We help communities living within the reserve—collectives of farmers known as ejidos—develop alternative approaches to agriculture, such as organic farming, and methods that enhance soils and productivity. In 2002, the Mexican government asked the partners to help purchase and protect nearly 600,000 acres of communally owned, uninhabited lands in and around the reserve.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Mexico. |
|
| Conservation Profile |
targets
giant anteater, howler and spider monkeys, jaguar, puma, ocelot, jaguarundi, tigrillo, crested guan, great curassow, black-billed cuckoo, king vulture, scarlet macaw
stresses
cattle grazing, road building, hunting, intensive agriculture, population growth
strategies
strengthen partner organizations, bolster reserve management and infrastructure, promote ecologically compatible farming and forestry practices, secure conservation easements, acquire land and timber rights
results
working to protect 600,000 acres at the government’s request; developing incentives for private lands protection in a country where none existed before; trained reserve patrol guards and taught methods of fire prevention and control | | | | |
