Ladino and Q’eqchı́ Maya land use and land clearing in the Sierra de Lacandón National Park, Petén, Guatemala
نویسنده
چکیده
This paper examines potential differences in land use between Q’eqchí Maya and Ladino (Spanish speakers of mixed ancestry) farmers in a remote agricultural frontier in northern Petén, Guatemala. The research site, the Sierra de Lacandón National Park (SLNP), is a core conservation zone of Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR). In recent years, much has been written about the dramatic process of colonization and deforestation in Petén, Guatemala’s largest and northernmost department. Since the early 1980s a rapid rural transformation has occurred where once remote forested regions have been colonized by small farmers, and lands have been converted to maize fields and cattle pastures. Consequently, less than half of the original forest cover in the department remains. Although approximately half of Petén’s rural settlers have been Q’eqchí Maya, their land use, and its subsequent impact on Petenero forests, has been little studied. Results suggest that despite heterogeneous land use systems in migrant origin areas, given similar physical and socio-economic conditions following settlement in this remote frontier, Q’eqchí and Ladino farmer land use is remarkably similar. Only a modest land use difference appears to exist between the two groups: Q’eqchí Maya appear to have more extensive swidden maize rotations while Ladinos dedicate more land to pasture.
منابع مشابه
Colonization, clear-cutting, and cornfields: Rural migration and deforestation in The Sierra de Lacandón National Park, Petén, Guatemala
This paper uses household level data to examine the ecological and political factors and household characteristics associated with small farmer land use change and forest clearing between 1993 and 1998. The research site is a settlement frontier within a protected area in northern Guatemala. The great expanse of accessible, open land of the Sierra de Lacandón National Park (SLNP) has been a mag...
متن کاملLand succession and intensification in the agricultural frontier: Sierra del Lacandón National Park, Guatemala
متن کامل
Forest Clearing Among Farm Households in the Maya Biosphere Reserve*
Central America’s tropical forests have been felled more rapidly than those of any other world region during the latter half of the twentieth century. During this time, nearly half of Guatemala’s forests were eliminated. Most of this deforestation has been concentrated in the northern department of Petén. The remaining forests in Petén are now mainly concentrated in the Maya Biosphere Reserve (...
متن کاملAgricultural Intensification in a Conservation Area: Sierra del Lacandón National Park, Guatemala
Introduction This paper examines changes in land use intensity and its impact on household food security in Latin America, drawing upon a case study of frontier farmers in the Sierra del Lacandón National Park (SLNP), in the tropical lowlands of Petén, Guatemala (Map 1). This is an area where the agricultural frontier has expanded progressively into closed tropical rainforest, with extremely sp...
متن کاملLand cover change and ownership turnover in the agricultural frontier: the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala
This study investigates land cover change and land ownership turnover in an area that is both the agricultural frontier and a priority conservation zone, the Sierra del Lacandón National Park (SLNP), Petén, Guatemala. The goal is to understand how the agricultural frontier changes over time with regard to population, household characteristics, and land use. This study analyzes panel-data consis...
متن کامل