ProPeten - About ProPeten, What we do, who we are, Peten, Flores, Guatemala

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Our Mission

ProPeten has ten years of experience working with conservation and development in different areas of the department of Peten. They posess a team of multidisciplinary technical and professional staff that allows the organization to work in diverse fields, locally and nationally. Their work philosophy is based on the ability to conserve the natural and cultural resources and promote development through community pariticipation. ProPeten's slogan expresses this philosophy: "ProPeten...conservation with humanity." ProPeten's mission as of 2004 is:

Generate innovative processes that facilitate the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of Peten by fostering sustainable and equitable development based on community participation, relevant scientific research, strategic alliances and policy.

Vision: "A Guatemalan organization that is a leader in conservation of the natural and social values and resources in a sustainable and integrated manner".

With this vision, the Board of Directors, as part of the strategic plan of the organization, has identified the following objectives:

Conserve the natural and cultural heritage of Peten by working with the communities in ProPeten's area of influence.
Teach the communities inside ProPeten's area of influence about the importance of conserving the natural and cultural resources.
Improve the family economy through economic activities that are compatible with the natural environment and social culture.
Strengthen the connection between health and the environment in the local context.
Generate research and integrate it with the local knowledge to respond to the needs of Peten.

Major themes

Conservation is a theme that requires a strong link with the social and cultural environment. It is not possible to conserve the environment if you don't offer the communities alternatives to deforestation and monoculture. Moreover, it is important to understand cultural dynamics and also the limitations of development projects which sometimes impoverish communities even more.

Lessons learned and experience obtained during the past 10 years are the base for the following themes in which ProPeten focuses it's energy to achieve conservation:

Environmental education
Health and environment
Economic alternatives

From the themes above, the following four lines of action have been identified to guide the work of ProPeten.

Political impact
Relelvant research
Community participation
Strategic alliances

	History
	1990	The Guatemalan National Congress creates the 1.6 million hectare Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) and establishes a new park service called the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP).
	1991	Conservation International establishes its Guatemalan program with its main office in Flores, the island capital of Peten. The program is called "Proyecto Petenero para un Bosque Sostenible" (Peten Project for a Sustainable Forest), better known as CI/ProPeten or just ProPeten.
	1992	ProPeten begins working in the largest community in the MBR, El Cruce a Dos Aguadas, helping the local population create non-timber forest products, specifically potpourri. Eco-Escuela de Español created in San Andrés, beginning ProPeten's work in that community. Promotion of community forest management programs begins in Bethel Cooperative, on the banks of the Usumacinta River (the program is later transferred to Centro Maya).
	1993	The Eco-Escuela is officially recognized by the government. Soon thereafter, the deputy mayor of Carmelita, a chiclero community, asks ProPeten for help in sustainable management of their natural resources. ProPeten also begins to build close ties with the Itzá Maya of San José who want to establish their own reserve to maintain their language and traditional way of life. ProPeten, the National Institute for Archaeology and History, and the municipality of Flores sign an agreement allowing ProPeten to rehabilitate the old jail located in the Flores' central plaza. Thus, the Castillo de Arismendi becomes CINCAP (Center for Information on the Environment, Culture and Arts of Peten), now one of the best known places in Peten for information, arts and crafts sales, conservation exhibits, and NGO meetings. CI makes the prize-winning video documentary "Between Two Futures." In this same year, ProPeten presents the first Forest Management Plan to the Bethel Cooperative.
	1994	ProPeten analyzes the various threats to Laguna del Tigre National Park and begins formulating a strategy for addressing them.
	1995	ProPeten teams up with NASA to begin monitoring changes in forest cover throughout the MBR using remote sensing techniques. The resulting information combined with socioeconomic studies leads to a series of publications.
	1996	In a historic "first" for Peten, ProPeten transfers ownership of the Eco-Escuela de San Andrés to the school's teachers and home-stay families. These 54 families now are shareholders in their own business, which indirectly benefits another 50-60 families in the town. ProPeten trains local people in low-impact tourism and works with them to open several forest trips, including the route from Carmelita to the Maya site of Mirador, the Scarlet Macaw Trail from eastern Laguna del Tigre through Buena Vista to El Cruce a Dos Aguadas, and the route between San José and Tikal via the Zotz ("bat" in Maya) Biotope. The first phase of USAID's Maya Biosphere Project (MAYAREMA) concludes, and the second phase begins. At the same time, ProPeten agrees with CONAP to work in the Core Zone of the Laguna del Tigre National Park, beginning with the communities of Paso Caballos and Buen Samaritano.
	1997	ProPeten intensifies efforts in Laguna del Tigre, emphasizing, among other things, formal and informal environmental education for children and adults. Shortly after its inauguration, the Scarlet Macaw Biological Station (Las Guacamayas), built on the shores of the San Pedro River between Paso Caballos and Buen Samaritano, is burnt to the ground and thirteen workers are taken hostage in El Naranjo. ProPeten's director negotiates their safe release and that week the workers return to build a new station. ProPeten intensifies its work in communities along the river through participatory approaches. There are no further threats to the biological station. CONAP grants a community forest concession to the Carmelita community, which requests that ProPeten act as technical advisor to its various timber and non-timber projects. The community of San Andrés formally petitions CONAP for a community forest concession and asks ProPeten to provide it with technical assistance. The documentary on traditional, sustainable Peten horticulture, "El Triunfo de Don Zacarias" (Don Zacarias's Triumph), is released. To facilitate the financial sustainability of all the "eco" enterprises, ProPeten establishes an independent Ecomaya Corporation (Ecomaya S.A.) with community tourism committees and other local businesses compatible with biodiversity conservation as its stakeholders. At the same time, ProPeten creates the "Green Alliance" (Alianza Verde) to certify tourism enterprises in Peten and to help formulate tourism policy for the MBR. ProPeten facilitates an agreement between CONAP and el Cruce a Dos Aguadas allowing the villagers the right to live permanently in the Multiple Use Zone. This gives the community an interest in helping to protect the Zotz Biotope and make their agriculture practices more conservation friendly. ProPeten helps the BioItzá Association in San José obtain legal recognition.
	1998	ProPeten helps the BioItzá Association open their own Spanish-language school (Escuela Eco-Cultural) in San José. They are trained by the San Andrés Eco-Escuela teachers. The Integral Forest Association of San Andrés, Peten (AFISAP) is founded and requests that ProPeten provide it with technical assistance in managing its forest concession. An off-shoot of CI and ProPeten, the Guatemalan Association for Nature Conservation, Cänan K'aax becomes co-administrator of the Laguna del Tigre National Park. A health/environment component called Remedios is added to the ProPeten structure and pioneers Peten's first family planning and reproductive health care programs. With the help of the Inter-American Development Bank, Fondo Maya is established as an independent organization to offer loans to environmentally sound small business enterprises. Working with ProPeten, the municipalities of San Andrés and San José create Commissions for Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment. This is the first time in Peten that municipal governments formally commit to environmental conservation. With the help of the strategic northwestern town of Naranjo Frontera, ProPeten builds and implements an information center linked to Laguna del Tigre National Park. It is the first conservation initiative in this often violent frontier town. Led by ProPeten, several NGOs and government agencies form the Inter-Institutional Commission for Furthering Environmental Education in Peten.
	1999	ProPeten publishes the book "Learning About the Ecology of Peten" for use in public schools. This and other ProPeten educational efforts are to become the basis for a pilot study to be completed in 2002. The pilot study is a pioneer effort to incorporate environmental education into the public school curriculum. If all goes well, this could become the basis for a national environmental education program. An international rapid biodiversity assessment team carries out a Biological Evaluation of Aquatic Systems (AQUARAP) in Laguna del Tigre National Park. Two new species are discovered. ProPeten expands sustainable development projects in Paso Caballos, Buen Samaritano and Mirador Chocop, all located in Laguna del Tigre National Park. With financial aid from the Japanese Embassy, the new Scarlet Macaw Biological Station is inaugurated. With the profits from its sustainable forest management projects, Carmelita is able to expand its primary school. Ecomaya initiates new tourism packages, including sale of plane and road transportation tickets. The Remedios program trains over ninety midwives and health promoters from communities in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in primary health and family planning. With strategic support from ProPeten staff, the national family planning provider, APROFAM, opens Peten's first non-profit women's health clinic in San Benito. ProPeten hosts Guatemala's 12th National Medicinal Plants conference, the largest ever.
	2000	ProPeten is the chosen site for the annual international meeting of Conservation International's board of directors. An organic agriculture project is launched in El Cruce a Dos Aguadas through a neighborhood farmers' group and quickly expands to include both Ladino and Q'eqchi' women and men. This is an unprecedented collaborative effort in this multiethnic community. They open a community farmers' market and begin processing organic vegetables for sale.
	2001	Conservation International and ProPeten begin the process of establishing ProPeten as an independent, local NGO. In collaboration with Family Health International, the Remedios program provides family planning and reproductive health training to every government health worker in the Peten.
	2002	In July 2002, ProPeten becomes an independent Guatemalan NGO with its own board of directors. ProPeten now has the challenge and the opportunity to raise its own funds to continue its ongoing mission to manage and conserve the natural resources of the Maya Biosphere Reserve with the participation of and for the benefit of local people, as well as all Guatemalans and others who believe in conservation for the sake of nature and people.