The following excerpt is from a May 16, 2010 article published by IPS News. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY, May 16, 2010 (Tierramérica) – The shortage of resources for law enforcement and high demand from the wealthy countries of the North have left the field wide open in Guatemala for trafficking of wild animals, many of which are endangered, warn experts and environmentalists.
The region of Guatemala most affected by species trafficking is the northern province of Petén, bordering Mexico, where the government declared a 2.1-million-hectare site a protected area in a bid to optimise conservation and restore devastated flora and fauna.
Petén has an area of 35,854 square kilometres and is home to one of the largest tropical forests in the Americas, in addition to numerous archaeological sites of the indigenous Maya culture.
Although there are control systems in place there, Julio Madrid, delegate from the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) in Petén, acknowledged that it is a difficult task because there are just 300 rangers for the entire forest…
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read articles related to the Guatemalan environment.
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