How this forestry concession community in Guatemala is planting seeds for the future
The image I am seeing through my camera’s viewfinder is incredible. Mayor and community leader Don Erwin is standing in front of an ancient archeological temple, vividly moving his hands as he is answering our questions in Spanish. Besides his and Pablo’s (the interviewer) voice the only sound that surrounds us comes from insects, birds, and faraway monkeys. Having spent already nearly a week in the rainforest in North Guatemala at this point, the forest is starting to grow on me.
That is, when I manage to ignore the buzzing mosquitoes that are sensing new blood regardless of the amount of layers and repellent. And when I ignore the hot humidity that my body clearly did not grow up in, even though my travels have taught me that if you accept the constant sweating and taking life a bit slower it is actually alright.
Looking back at my experience, it almost felt dreamy. In reality, however, my head was spinning from being in full brainstorm mode and lack of sleep.
Via Actuality Abroad, a documentary education program, we had been invited by forestry concession community Uaxactún to co-create media content on their activities. Actuality Abroad specifically partners with local changemakers to co-create stories and documentaries that amplify their work.
I first heard of the organization at the beginning of 2024 while I was searching for scholarships to fund my master’s degree. With determinacy and divine intervention (which is another story) I obtained a scholarship place in the 10-day Storytelling Expedition to Guatemala in June 2024. Luckily for me, and part of that divine intervention, I was already in Guatemala at that time and so my trip to our location was relatively easy — with emphasis on relatively.
Uaxactún is located in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, one of the largest reserves in Central America, and is located directly north of Tikal National Park in Guatemala. We are staying in a hotel about a 40-min drive away and visit Uaxactún for seven consecutive days to do research, hold interviews, and do lots of filming.
Each day we are received warmly by the community — quite literally, with temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius. They had considered letting us stay in the village overnight, but the limited power supplies would not be sufficient to charge our gear. And perhaps with none of us being used to the humidity, that was for the best.
So, when we are not in the forest and while our gear is charging, we are discussing story angles, coming up with interview questions, and dividing tasks. It is definitely not easy.
As a cultural anthropologist having experience with doing fieldwork, I know that researching social settings usually requires a certain extent of ‘trusting the process.’ But when you have less than 10 days to come up with multiple stories with an international team that you only just met, working with a community of yet another culture, while the tardy rain season is finally beginning and thus constantly changing the schedule… I am starting to wonder if the process is also trusting us.
While fluttering my fan in an attempt to scare away the mosquitoes and provide some coolness to the humid heat, I try to focus on Erwin’s answers to our questions. The people in Uaxactún sustainably harvest wood, gum (chicle), and palm tree leaves (Xate). Recently, they have also started bringing in tourists to their ancient archaeological sites.
Today, however, the archeological temple behind Erwin only functions as a backdrop. Our questions are focused on how Uaxactún sustainably manages the extraction of forestry resources. Erwin teaches us that extracting resources does not equal exploitation. Through community organization, the people of Uaxactún manage their forests in a truly sustainable way, living in harmony with the forest while also economically benefitting from its resources.
I see the success of their model in the data he gives us, but mostly in the flourishing green forest around us. With that, Uaxactún’s forestry concession model radically differs from large scale unsustainable and illegal logging actors and other exploitative for-profit forestry activities.
As Erwin is talking, however, what inspires me most is how he speaks about the culture of community. That community does not only include the Guatemalans currently living in Uaxactún, but the living forest and future generations. As I am listening to the passion, kindness, and urgency in Erwin’s words, I smile. We have found the story.
This is the story of a community that lives in harmony with the forest and cares not only for its people, but also for the natural world around and the generations to come — a community that is planting seeds for the future.
TRAILER:
FULL 16-MINUTE DOCUMENTARY:
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