Largest Unprotected Cloud Forest in Central America at Imminent Risk of Deforestation

Guatemalan NGO, The Cloud Forest Conservation Initiative, and U.S.-based non-profit Conservation Imaging, Inc. join forces to raise $500,000 for land preservation of Cerro el Amay by May 1, 2016

News provided by

The Cloud Forest Conservation Initiative

Mar 09, 2016, 08:40 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today a group of 10 individuals are embarking upon a journey into the largest unprotected tropical montane cloud forest in Central America, Cerro el Amay, nestled high in the mountains of northern Guatemala. This group will search for the source of a river purportedly never seen by humans, observe species never recorded by science, and they will be negotiating the future of 6,300 acres of this cloud forest.

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Cerro el Amay was virtually non-existent to any government, scientist, or outside conservation authority until 2008 when Dr. Philip Tanimoto, a spatial ecologist, as part of his fieldwork, discovered the largest unprotected virgin cloud forest in Central America, Cerro el Amay, a habitat for multiple endangered species, including the Highland guan, the black-handed spider monkey, and the Guatemalan spike-thumb frog.

Recent developments and changes to forestry commons management by some of the stakeholder communities neighboring Cerro el Amay, threaten to derail these endangered species habitats and the entire cloud forest in just a few months. In February, local K'iche' Maya residents, who for thousands of years have lived at the edge of this forest, under duress of extreme poverty, voted to sell almost all of the remaining land within Cerro el Amay, totaling around 3,700 acres. A buyer has already stepped forward that intends to clear-cut the forest for timber and to open the lands for cattle.

CFCI has been working with the local Mayan communities since 2009 to ensure the land remains preserved and have already purchased and protected 600 acres of this virgin cloud forest. CFCI has launched a grassroots movement, in tandem with U.S.-based non-profit, Conservation Imaging, Inc. These organizations are working together to raise $500,000 by May 1, 2016 to acquire the remaining unprotected land. The forest is already being clear-cut at the rate of an acre a day as one lot, over 110 acres, was sold and is actively being logged at the time of this release. Not only is CFCI looking to protect and preserve this cloud forest, they are also dedicated to empowering and supporting the surrounding communities with eco-tourism, research, education and sustainable community development.

"Imagine giant buttressed trees with entire worlds contained within their branches and spiraling down their trucks," describes Rob Lenfestey, Jr., and board member at CFCI. "Massive sink holes and cave openings leading to seemingly endless caverns with crystal-clear underwater streams, rivers, and waterfalls; several new species have even been found in Cerro el Amay, including a terrestrial crab and a type of scorpion. Now imagine deforestation eliminating all of it, because the threat is imminent and real."

To learn more or donate, visit: https://www.youcaring.com/the-cloud-forest-conservation-initative-528608

PRESS CONTACT
Jeremy Schewe
The Cloud Forest Conservation Initiative
Email
(828) 337-9905

The Cloud Forest Conservation Initiative
US: 828.505.1630 Guatemala: (00502) 3167-4678
www.ForestPrimeval.org

SOURCE The Cloud Forest Conservation Initiative