Journeys in Conservation programs and youth groups are a complete team effort from the local level to the international donors and volunteers. Alongside local leadership and community groups who represent the rural communities of the Maya Biosphere Reserve we: identify local challenges and the contexts from where they originated, develop short and longterm strategies that balance nature conservation and human welfare solutions, and create practical project action plans that address the root of local challenges. We work closely with a variety of conservation and community non-profits, especially our non-profit partner Project Ix-Canaan, which has over 22 years of experience in community development work in the Maya Biosphere Reserve and has hosted international volunteers in the area for over 15 years. Project Ix-Canaan’s website: www.ixcanaan.com.
Primary Program Descriptions (each with its Youth Group):
- Finca Experimental Chéel, Model Agroforestry Livestock Farm – the energetic owners of this integrated family farm provide on-site farmer workshops demonstrating and promoting agroforestry chickens with fruit trees and egg laying chickens in the same space, sustainable free-range milk production and other agroforestry techniques. These efficient methods, only recently introduced to Guatemala, have the potential to save thousands of hectares of forest from turning into cattle savannah in the Maya Biosphere Reserve alone. Youth Group: The Jaguars
- Proyecto Ecológico Sol y Verde, Permaculture Education Institute and Reforestation Center – using multi-strata agroforestry with layers of tall trees, shade trees, and understory production uses permaculture principles to teach farming families and children how to live productively with the forests as opposed to burning them down for corn or cattle. New age industrial methods to land use with monocultures and chemicals also render the soil infertile after only a few years, leaving rural families in even more dire situations, so we must promote regenerative farming to help them cultivate healthy soil while producing their families food and income. Youth Group: The Crocodiles
- Proyecto Ecológico Chunyá, Community Forestry and Youth Council – this program’s charismatic founder Cristian Polanco has galvanized his community’s support to protect its last standing rainforest and to reforest a large area, all while organizing more than 50 children and young adults in his village to live more in harmony with the Forest Reserve where they reside. His village of Cruce Dos Aguadas is in the heart of the Maya Biosphere Reserve at a funnel point with road access to the rest of the vast protected forest. This program’s success will make a dramatic difference in the longterm stability of the entire 2 million acre Reserve. Youth Group: The Tapirs
Other Projects and Alliances
- Fuel-conserving Cookstove Construction – conservation stoves reduce firewood consumption by half and decrease smoke inhalation by over 90%, since 2019 stoves have been installed with 15 families benefiting 75 people across 3 villages in the reserve
- Reforestation – planting native nut, fruit, and timber-bearing trees in areas of former rainforest which has suffered from forest fires or been converted to farmland
- Regenerative/Sustainable Agriculture with Contour Lines Corps – promoting and helping farmers implement alternatives to slash-and-burn land use: contour line alley cropping with the multi-use madre cacao tree (Gliricidia sepium) and silvopastoral cattle ranching practices (native hardwood, fruit trees, and fodder trees grown among cow pasture)
- Ecological Education and Nutrition Program with Project Ixcanaan – fighting local environmental degradation and extreme malnutrition through nutrition education, healthy cooking classes and organic gardening training
- Cement Floor Installation with Project Ixcanaan – converting dirt floors in homes to cement floors dramatically reduces incidences of parasites, anemia, and diarrhea among children
Other Initiatives
English Lessons – local English teachers are native Spanish speakers with limited English language exposure, so assistance with pronunciation is needed. Volunteers help teach Guatemalan kids and adults English.
In addition to direct volunteer work, support from Journeys in Conservation and Project Ix-Canaan is consistently directed toward supporting local medical and dental clinics, women’s groups/cooperatives, scholarship funds for women and girls, after school programs for kids, health and school supply donations, acquisition of rainforest land for long term conservation protection, and acquisition of degraded farmland for reforestation.
Wildlife Species Reporting
The natural habitats and wildlife of the Maya Biosphere Reserve are quickly disappearing. To aid in wildlife conservation efforts for National Geographic’s international species database, Journeys in Conservation documents through photographs the bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian, and arthropod species we encounter in the Reserve. Since April 2019, we have photographed over 125 species.
To view our wildlife records, visit the online photo album by clicking the image below.
