Ecociencia Gt

This institution also watches over the maintenance and conservation of the communal forests of its territory, which stands out for its high forestry potential.

 

The forests cover almost 21 thousand hectares –where in addition to a varied wildlife of flora and fauna, as the pinabete (Abies guatemalensis), an endemic species- there have been identified two thousand sources of water.

 

The richness of the natural resources of the Municipality of Totonicapán is so valued, head of the department with the same name, located to 203 kms from the Guatemala City and to 2,395 meters above sea level, that its inhabitants, 98 percent of them indigenous, protect it at any cost, no matter what.

 

People who do not live or belong to the community, and who have no authorization from the leaders cannot go into its protected areas without taking the risk of being reprehended, based on their common laws.

 

Even the inhabitants of the 48 cantons must have the corresponding permission to use the natural resources that the forests provide. They are governed by an ancient model of territorial management that has let them make a good use of nature.

 

However, “there are social, economic, and political disparities and inequalities that do not allow the improvement of the quality of life for the people of the Municipality”, says the Develoment Plan 2011-2021 made by the Municipality Development Board of the Secretary of Planning and Programming of the President´s Office, 2010.

 

According to the said document, 72.66% of the population lives in poverty, they get less than US$2 as daily income; and among them there is a population of 8.86% in extreme poverty conditions, that means people who get only US$1 daily.

 

In addition to the life conditions of its population, the territory of Totonicapán has been affected by floods, erosions, rock falls, and forestry fires. The Hurrican Mitch in 1998 and the Tropical Storm Stan in 2005 caused many damages; the hurricane, for instance, caused the loss of homes, crops, livestock and even human lives.

 

Climate change has increased its vulnerabilities, so to face it and to live with it, the inhabitants of the 48 cantons are giving relevance to the environmental education and conservation of the water sources, food, raw material, fuels and medicine, among other valuable ecosystem services that the forests provide them.

 

In order to know the consequences of drastic changes in the municipality’s climate patterns and what measures are being taken to mitigate and adapt to the new climatic scenarios, EcocienciaGT interviewed agronomist Mario Ardany de León Benítez, a native of Totonicapán.

 

De León is the Program Officer of the Ecologic Development Fund, an international non-profit organization which mission is to empower rural and indigenous communities to restore and protect their tropical ecosystems in Central America and Mexico.

 

The changing weather conditions of temperature, humidity and rainfalls have impacted in the food security of the Western Highlands of Guatemala, says the agronomist Rolando Gómez, regional director of the Foundation for the Eco-development and Conservation (FUNDAECO, by its acronym in Spanish).

 

“In the lower areas of the Western Highlands water has been scarce, the agricultural production has decreased and some animal species began to migrate. Three years ago it snowed in the mountain chain called Los Cuchumatanes and it has not happened before; nowadays the frequency in which hailstorms and frosts occurred is having a big impact on the region, because they burn crops and even growing forestry species”, said Gómez.

 

The strongest rainfalls also have produced landslides that block roads and avoid people to leave their communities to trade their products. When they do not have incomes to satisfy their basic needs, they put more pressure over the natural resources. “At both national and Western Higlands levels there are many threats due to climate change, that is why to adapt is what we have left”, emphasized Gómez. 

 

The bases of mitigating climate change are: to reduce or eliminate practices that generate greenhouse gases (GHGs) and increase the global temperature of the planet, and to increase reserves of carbon storage so that they are not released into the atmosphere.

 

In the meantime, adaptation consists of all the actions that individual, group and business must take to adjust to the new conditions of extreme cold or heat, prolonged droughts, intense frost or hail storms, etc. The goal is to no longer see these extreme weather patterns as threats that can cause harm, but to learn to manage them and live with them.

 

“Both mitigation and adaptation must go hand in hand,” said Jonathan Schwars of the United States Agency for International Development's Low Emission Development Project at the Second National Congress on Climate Change held in the city of Quetzaltenango, another department of the Western Highlands of Guatemala and also being affected by climate change.

 

In order to know where to mitigate and how to adapt, the threats must first be defined, said engineer Rolando Gómez of FUNDAECO. It’s also imperative that municipal mayors prioritize the conservation of green areas in the urban center, restoration of fragmented areas, and harvesting of rainwater. He added, “the more natural resources are taken into account in mitigation and adaptation strategies, the more environmental services will be provided to the population.”

 

According to Marta Pérez de Madrid, Climate Change Officer of the International Union for Climate Change (IUCN) for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, “municipalities have to be involved from the outset in the processes of adaptation to climate change”, because adapting is “making decisions and fostering the solutions that nature gives us and raise the profile of ecosystems as a response to climate change,” she explained at a virtual seminar for journalists on Ecosystem-Based Adaptation.

 

In the 48 cantons of Totonicapán, Guatemala, local leaders are actively involved in the implementation of projects that benefit their communities, including mitigation and adaptation to climate change. They are well organized in five different boards of directors and for one year they carry out community work in favor of their municipality and without payment.

 

Many people in the rural areas of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán live in poverty and use firewood as the main source of energy in their homes.

 

One of the ways to contribute to the preservation of the natural resources of the community, to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to help improve their living conditions is by using a fuel-efficient stove that reduces consumption of firewood and helps to prevent respiratory diseases, because the kitchens are not filled with smoke.

 

Together, EcoLogic and the Board of Natural Resources of the Ancestral Community Organization of the 48 cantons select the families that receive a fuel-efficient stove.

 

In order for the beneficiary families to value and take care of their fuel-efficient stove, they must make a contribution consisting of 2 sacks of sand, 20 blocks and 2 sacks of mud, as well as pay for the labor of the assistant mason who builds the stove.

 

They also commit to participate in reforestation days, environmental awareness talks, and “healthy home” workshops. In a “healthy home” workshop, through demonstrative and experiential methodologies, they are taught from the correct handling of food, to the use, hygiene and maintenance of their new conserving stove.

 

EcoLogic provides the cement, the bricks, the tubes for the chimney, and the iron where the food will be heated. EcoLogic technicians make regular visits to the homes to evaluate the use and care of each stove. This is they verify that the model constructed in each home is the most appropriate and accepted by the people in the communities.

 

Dora Argueta, from the canton of Chiyax, thanks to the help and solidarity of her neighbors managed to obtain a house and a fuel-efficient stove.  Watch the video.

 

Because for many years the communal forest of Totonicapán has been under the care of the leaders of the 48 cantons, the problems that affect it have not ruined it to the extreme.

 

According to the agronomist Fernando Recancoj, from EcoLogic in the maya-k´iche´ world view there is a subject about service, “K´axcol” in the k´iche´ language that literally translated means sacrifice or pain. But in a broader and community sense it refers to give a service.

 

The Board of Natural Resources of the Ancestral Community Organization of the 48 cantons coordinates with Ecologic the projects that they can manage as a team. The Board of Director´s function is to watch over the good manage of the 21 thousand hectares of the communal forest where there are more than 2 thousand sources of water, and there is where resides the strength of the organization, emphasizes Recancoj.

 

There are also potable water committees with more than 200 recipients each one and all of them work together in order to have the basins reforested, moreover nowadays when the weather variability produced by the global warming has affected the region with longer drought periods, stronger rainfalls that fall in less time and stronger frosts. These weather conditions would be affecting them in a bigger level, but they are not, thanks to the preservation and restoration work that they have been made in an ancestral way and to which they have added scientific knowledge and technology.

 

For instance, until 10 years ago there were not communal forestry nursery centers, and now they are providing them the forestry native species to reforest the degraded zones, said the agronomist Mario Ardany de León, Programme Officer for EcoLogic Guatemala.

 

Next, let´s learn why the inhabitants of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán value the conservation of their forests. (Video)

 

 That is how the leaders and inhabitants of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán go an step forward than the inhabitants of urban areas, in their community organization levels, as well as in their commitment and execution of the actions that are letting them to live with climate change and keeping their natural resources for the present and future generations.