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Case Study #5: Monitoring of Incursions into the Caracol Archaeological Reserve.
Question: How effective is our management of the Caracol Archaeological Reserve?
Solution: Use fires as a measurement of agricultural encroachment on the Protected Area.
Time: 15 minutes
Method: Select these Layers from the Map Explorer:
- Fires (April 2005)
- Protected Areas
- Biological Corridors (Proposed)
- Roads
- Agricultural Use
- Ecosystems
Images: See the figure below.
Results: In this example, a continual pattern of encroachment has been observed in Caracol Archaeological Reserve, 11.5% (approx. 2,948 acres) of the park is being cultivated by small-holder farmers and is spreading eastward towards the Caracol ruins. The 2003 and 2005 editions of the Central America Ecosystem map show a steady increase in land being converted from Lowland and Submontane Broad-leaved Moist Forest to Small-holder Farming.
Conclusions:
The encroachment is likely illegal, given that the land is protected by the revised Ancient Monuments and Antiquities Act of 2000 and that the agriculture is likely being undertaken by Guatemalans. Access to this land can only be gotten through entry from the Guatemalan side of the border - no activities are visible along the Belizean access road. New fire activity within the existing cultivated areas is not as troubling as evidence of more clearing of forested areas in the north and east peripheries of these areas. This will likely continue and even accelerate until the rainy season begins or is checked by government enforcement.
Other actions needed:
Government enforcement and vigilance to prevent these newly cleared fields from being planted and taken into cultivation.
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