What is the social and environmental importance and significance of the chicle harvesting?
In the Mayan Jungle, the second largest in the American continent after the Amazon, the chicozapote is the most abundant tree, and from it gum is obtained.
The sapodilla tree (Manilkara zapota) is native to the Atlantic rainforests of Nicaragua and the Gran Petén, which encompasses part of the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, and Guatemala and is, after the Amazon, the largest area of evergreen rainforests on the American continent. The sapodilla tree is one of the most common ones in these forests, and in certain areas there are up to 30 per hectare.
The most widespread solution that has been put in place to stop the destruction of rainforests has been the establishment of natural parks and conservation reserves. The more than 120 species of trees in the rainforests of the Gran Petén are only part of the cornucopia of raw materials that the rainforests offer. The native descendants of the Mayans know about this potential and have used it for a long time; today, those who have control and use of their natural resources in their hands are the new social actors in the search for sustainable development.
In the Gran Petén, the distribution of different tree species is not homogeneous. In the Noh Bec ejido, for example, the sapodilla tree represents 33% of the volume of wood, and its marked dominance is surely related to the protection of the species for the extraction of chicle latex; tzalam (false tamarind), which has reached a very high demand for the manufacture of floors, represents 1.3% of the wood volume, a figure very similar to that of mahogany, which is the most important species from a business point of view.
The extraction of chicle is a very important economic activity for the inhabitants of the Gran Petén and the chicleros have become protective guardians of the sapodilla tree and its ecological environment. By consuming natural chicle, a sustainable extractive activity which contributes to keeping the rainforest that saw the Mayan civilization flourish, is being promoted.
Comments