Economic Integration, Rural Hardship, and Conservation on Guatemala's Agricultural Frontier

Abstract

Despite decades of attention by conservationists, deforestation remains a critical problem in Latin America, particularly in agricultural frontiers like the Amazon and the lowlands of CentralAmerica. The limited impact of conservation initiatives in such regions stems partly from a poor understanding of the socioeconomic and land use dynamics that typify frontiers. Moreover, conservation organizations tend to disregard the economic and policy factors at various scales that contribute to deforestation pressures in developing countries. This article describes a study of recent socioeconomic and land use changes associated with the ongoing, rapid economic integration of Petén, Guatemala's main frontier region, and considers their implications from the standpoint of sustainable land use and forest conservation. The research relied on a range of primary and secondary data, including a comparison of survey data gathered by the author in one agriculturally important area of Petén before and after roads to the region were paved in the late 1990s, leading to tighter links with other parts of the country. The resulting economic integration of 133 Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 17:45 16 November 2014 134 A. J. Shriar this once isolated region has made it more difficult for its farmers to compete with larger, more efficient producers elsewhere in Guatemala and beyond, and to survive in the face of downward pressures on farm gate prices. Most of the households in the study area have thus become poorer, their farming systems less diverse, and the concentration of land ownership and landlessness have increased. Such socioeconomic marginalization limits the ability of farmers to manage their land in a sustainable manner. It also forces a growing number of people to migrate in search of a decent livelihood, in some cases into remaining "protected" areas of forest in the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

Strict versus mixed-use protected areas: Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve

“…We find that this management regime increases deforestation by 90 to 100%, another result that jibes with studies based on naïve estimators and qualitative evidence (Hughell and Butterfield, 2008;Shriar, 2011). This conclusion should not be surprising since, as the name implies, the buffer zone's purpose is to deflect population and deforestation pressures from the core protected area and multiple-use zone.…”

“…It was created in 1990 to help conserve the Selva Maya, one of Mesoamerica's largest remaining contiguous forests. This forest had been, and continues to be, threatened by rapid population growth and the coincident expansion of agriculture, ranching, forest fires, and illegal logging (Carr, 2008;Clark, 2000;Schmidt, 2010;Shriar, 2011). Deforestation rates in the Petén department that includes the Selva Maya are the highest in Guatemala-more than 4% per year between 2001 and 2006 (Castellanos et al, 2011).…”

“…Second, all of the MBR's management regimes have been "put to the test" since the park's founding. The Petén region of northern Guatemala, where the MBR is located, has witnessed rapid deforestation in the past two decades due to immigration and a changing security situation (Shriar, 2011;Schmidt, 2010). Finally, the MBR has so far attracted little attention from scholars using statistical techniques to control for nonrandom siting.…”

<b>Milpas y huertos de traspatio tradicionales en Petén, Guatemala y el problema de la seguridad alimentaria</b><br/><i>Cornfields and traditional backyard orchards in Peten, Guatemala and the problem of food security<i>

“…Esto ha ejercido más presión hacia abajo en los precios pagados directamente a los productores en Petén. En un estudio panel del área de Bethel, que posiblemente es el área con el mayor potencial agrícola de Petén (Agrar-und Hydrotechnik y Asesoría y Promoción Económica S. A , 1992), Shriar (2011) encontró que la creciente integración económica con el resto de Guatemala ha aumentado la pobreza entre los campesinos, llevando a una reducción en la diversidad de cultivos y una mayor venta de tierras, un aumento en la concentración de tierras y un aumento en la migración, incluyendo intentos de migrar hacia áreas protegidas de la RBM. Además, Shriar (2002, p. 411) advierte que aún si la producción agrícola de Petén se intensificara y si los campesinos fueran más capaces de competir con foráneos, no hay garantías de que los beneficios sean distribuidos equitativamente dentro de las comunidades, fortaleciendo la seguridad alimentaria.…”

“…Para los campesinos pobres de pequeña escala que deben lidiar con la inseguridad alimentaria y con pocas, si es que las hay, oportunidades de trabajo legal fuera de la agricultura, las prácticas de agroforestería petenera o huertos forestales pueden ayudarles a alcanzar seguridad alimentaria y generar algunos ingresos adicionales a partir de la venta de diversos productos de "cercos" y milpas en los mercados urbanos cercanos (Contreras, 1999;Corzo & Schwartz, 2008a;Palma, 2000). No hay dos mercados urbanos exactamente iguales en Petén, por lo tanto, se necesitan estudios posteriores para especificar qué productos de huertos y milpa, además del maíz y el frijol pueden generar dividendos óptimos (Tremblay et al, 2015;Shriar, 2002Shriar, , 2011.…”