Petroleum activities in the Maya Biosphere Reserve violate the rights of Guatemalan citizens

A great fear that petroleum companies will continue operating with business as usual, and that the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) will be destroyed forever, was recently provoked by the Guatemalan Government's halfhearted and contradictory responses to Guatemala's Attorney General for Human Rights who concluded that petroleum activities in the Maya Biosphere Reserve constitute a violation of the fundamental rights of all Guatemalans.

On February 7th, Guatemala's Attorney General for Human Rights ruled that the petroleum activities in the Maya Biosphere violate human rights "each time they disrupt the right to a clean environment, to the right of individual dignity, to the right of the preservation of the cultural and natural patrimony of the country, and to the right to social and economic development". The ruling also affirms that the violation of the Law of Protected Areas constitutes "an administrative tendency detrimental to the citizens of Guatemala, and especially, to the communities neighboring the ravaged protected areas."

However, the official reaction focused exclusively on one of the nine concessions illegally approved in the Maya Biosphere. In doing so, the government failed to address the preoccupations of communities such as Carmelita and Uaxactún who have been threatened by the pending approval of petroleum concessions that will  overlap forest areas which they have inhabited for over a century.

Despite the fact that the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) has been protected by law since 1989, continuous violations of the law by authorities have allowed approximately 50% of the MBR Buffer Zone, as well as 40% of the MBR Multiple Use Zone and Core Zone to be opened, or auctioned off, for petroleum extraction. Using disingenuous legal trickery, nine new contracts for exploration or extraction have been approved since 1992 in the heart of the MBR and in the Buffer Zone, in addition to the two new proposals which affect the communities of Carmelita and Uaxactún.

The Maya Biosphere is located in the northernmost part of Guatemala, forming the frontier with Mexico and Belize. It also serves as the heart of the greater Maya Forest (or Selva Maya), which is shared among the three countries. With an area of 1.6 million hectares in the Guatemalan part alone, the Maya Forest is considered as the second most important remaining tract of tropical forest in the Americas, second only to the Amazon.

Among the potentially illegal new contracts recently approved, only three contain producing wells. Upon commencing exploration and extraction in the six pending concessions including Carmelita and Uaxactún, the reserve would be irreparably damaged as would be the forest cultures and communities in the area. The incoherent government response to the Attorney General for Human Rights' recent condemnation of petroleum activities was highlighted by the contradictions between two government agencies: the Secretary of the Environment, and the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Indeed, the Secretary's failure to mention all petroleum concessions apart from the Laguna Del Tigre contract (1-92), and the subsequent reaction by the Minister of Energy and Mines in which he belittled the Secretary of the Environment's authority to comment, amplify the fear that petroleum activities will continue destroying the Maya Biosphere Reserve. There is ample evidence to suggest that Guatemalan government's efforts to subdue the negative consequences of petroleum activities will be focused only on Laguna Del Tigre, allowing the remaining concessions to continue as a time bomb in the MBR.

We urgently ask for your support. You can help by sending an email message (See sample letter) to the Guatemalan government at:
Copredeh@guate.net , with copy to the
Ministry of Energy and Mines ( unimem1@pronet.net.gt ) and
Tropico Verde ( tropicoverde@guate.net ), expressing:

1) Your preoccupation that the environmental authorities in Guatemala have focused only upon the legality of contract 1-92, in Laguna Del Tigre, and that they have not mentioned contracts 1-91, 5-93, 1-95, 2-95, A-9-96, A-11-96, A-1-97 (Carmelita), A-2-97 (Uaxactún), 1-98, and 2-98, that were also approved after the creation of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, or are currently pending.

2) That the Law of Protected Areas clearly establishes that within Guatemalan protected areas, including buffer zones, destructive activities such as petroleum extraction are prohibited, and that all the above listed contracts are within the Maya Biosphere and the MBR Buffer Zone.

3) That the Maya Biosphere Reserve is included within UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program, and that citizens of all countries have the obligation to resist its reckless destruction.

4) Your desire that the Guatemalan Government immediately suspend all petroleum contracts in the MBR signed after the establishment of the reserve. By failing to do so, the current government will be running the risk of being charged with violating the fundamental human rights of the local people along with previous administrations who supported the clearly illegal contracts.

5) That the following signatories of this letter of concern will continue to vigil regarding the Guatemalan government's response to this crisis, and until a solution respectful of the natural patrimony of the Guatemalan people, and indeed all people, is found.

The Forest and Park Service (FPS) continues clearcutting old-growth forests in Finland

More information:
Mr Matti Liimatainen, +358 - 50 - 346 2210, liimatainen@sll.fi
Ms Annina Käppi, +358 - 9 - 68 444 210, annina@luontoliitto.fi