GUATEMALA: WILDFIRES CONTINUE TO DESTROY LARGE PORTIONS OF GUATEMALA'S PETEN FOREST

Record ID: 648014

  • Title: GUATEMALA: WILDFIRES CONTINUE TO DESTROY LARGE PORTIONS OF GUATEMALA'S PETEN FOREST
  • Date: 27th May 2003
  • Summary: (W1)PETEN FOREST, GUATEMALA (RECENT) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. AERIAL SHOTS OF FIRES (4 SHOTS) 0.47 2. MCU (Spanish) GENERAL SANTAMARIA, AIRFORCE BASE COMMANDER, SAYING, "These fires in the Peten area, which are the lungs of the region, have consumed 60% of the tropical forest." 1.04 3. LAS BIOLOGIST FROM WORLD CONSERVATION SOCIETY ORGANIZATION ON TOP OF A TREE TRYING TO SAVE THE MACAWS FROM THE FIRES 1.13 4. SV BIOLOGIST COMING DOWN FROM THE TREE RESCUE MACAWS 1.22 5. CU OF RESCUED BIRDS (4 SHOTS) 1.44 6. MCU (Spanish) VICTOR HUGO, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTE OF PROTECTED AREAS, SAYING: "The situation is very bad, basically the amount of fires in the area has exploded since March. " 1.59 7. SLV/SV/CU BURNT OUT FOREST (3 SHOTS) 2.23 8. SLV/CU FIREFIGHTERS IN THE FOREST/TREE ON FIRE (2 SHOTS) 2.40 9. MCU (Spanish) ROMAN GARCIA, RESIDENT OF THE AREA, SAYING, "This is a real shame, but the fires in some areas are more under control." 2.48 10. SV BURNING FOREST 2.57 11. SLV ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF EL PERU, THREATENED BY THE FIRE 3.04 12. SLV MORE OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE 3.12 13. SV (Spanish) HECTOR ESCOBEDO, DIRECTOR OF THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE "EL PERU" SAYING: "Other Mayan sites that are being researched are in danger due to the fires - the research has been cut in half." 3.27 14. SV FOREST FIRES 3.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PETEN FOREST, GUATEMALA
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Reuters ID: LVA44I3T1R8U3XCARXXBUUV9VQ8V
  • Story Text: Wildfires have continued to destroy large portions of
    Guatemala's Peten forest and have threatened the area's Mayan
    archeological sites and ruins.



    Guatemala's vast Peten forest, which is home to
    numerous archeological sites of the ancient Mayan civilization
    and forms the second-largest contiguous tract of tropical
    forest in the Americas, is being destroyed by wildfires that
    have been burning since March.

    According to military officials, the fires have consumed
    60 percent of the forest so far.

    The Peten Forest provides refuge to more than 400 species
    of birds, both endemic and migratory, and during the peak of
    winter migration, as many as five billion birds pass through
    the area. One of the priorities of local biologists has been
    to try to save the unique birdlife, most particularly the
    endangered scarlet macaw, from the fires.

    "The situation is very bad." said Victor Hugo of
    Guatemala's National Committee of Protected Areas, "Basically,
    the amount of fires in the area has exploded since March."
    Forest fires generally take place every spring in Central
    America, but the effects become most noticeable when drought
    conditions turn the forests into tinderboxes. The fires this
    year are finding plenty of fuel - normally lush vegetation
    sucked dry by the furnace winds, along with old tree trunks
    and other brush left by the fires of 1998.

    Not only are flora and fauna destroyed in such fires, but
    ancient archeological sites in the area are also threatened by
    the heat and erosion.

    "Other Mayan sites that are being researched are in danger
    due to the fires. The research has been cut in half," said
    Hector Escobeda, the Director of the archeological site of "El
    Peru".

    In January, February and March alone, authorities in
    Guatemala counted a total of 177 forest fires that destroyed
    13,000 hectares in the northern region of Peten.


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