Director’s Vision
Anabel Ford Ph.D., Director of ESP~Maya, and the west view from Plaza Copal, El Pilar. read Bio
Resource management and conservation are palpable themes of the day. Nowhere is this more keenly felt than the Maya forest, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas and among the last terrestrial frontiers.
Over the next two decades this area’s population will double, threatening the integrity of the tropical ecosystems with contemporary development strategies. Curiously, in the past the Maya forest was home to a major civilization with at least three to nine times the current population of the region.
I began my work as an archaeologist in the Maya forest in 1972. Rather than monumental buildings, I was interested in the everyday life of the Maya through the study of their cultural ecology—the multifaceted relationships of humans and their environment.
Despite my focus on daily life in the forest, monumental buildings became a part of my work; while conducting a settlement survey in the forested ridge lands, I discovered El Pilar, a Maya urban center with temples and plazas covering more than 50 hectares.
A Sustainable Economy
The observation that the ancient Maya evolved a sustainable economy in the tropics of Mesoamerica led my new approach to developing El Pilar: Archaeology Under the Canopy.
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Astride the contemporary border separating Belize from Guatemala, El Pilar has been the focus of a bold conservation design for an international park on a troubled border.
My vision for El Pilar is founded on the preservation of cultural heritage in the context of the natural environment. With a collaborative and interdisciplinary team of
- local villagers
- government administrators and
- scientists
we have established the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna. Today we are launching a Peace Park Initiative to conserve one resource in two countries.
New Strategies
Since 1993, the innovations of the El Pilar program have forged new ground in testing novel strategies for community participation in the conservation development of the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve. This program touches major administrative themes of global importance:
- tourism
- natural resources
- foreign affairs
- rural development
- education
Yet the program’s impacts go further. Working with traditional forest gardeners impacts
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- agriculture,
- rural enterprise, and
- capacity building.
There are few areas untouched by the program’s inclusive sweep, and more arenas can contribute to its future.
Action Archaeology
At El Pilar, I practice what I call “action archaeology,” a pioneering conservation model that draws on lessons learned from the recent and distant past to benefit contemporary populations. For example, the co-evolution of Maya society and the environment provides clues about sustainability in this region today.
At El Pilar we have advanced programs that will simulate “Maya forest gardens” as an alternative to resource-diminishing plow and pasture farming methods. The forest survives and demonstrates resilience to impacts brought on by human expansion, but cannot regenerate with modern development strategies. The ancient Maya lived with this forest for millennia, and the El Pilar program argues there are lessons to be learned from that past. The El Pilar Program recognizes the privilege it has enjoyed in
- forging an innovative community participatory process
- creating a unique management planning design and
- developing a new tourism destination.
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The success of local outreach at El Pilar can best be seen in the growth of the community organizations linking to El Pilar. With groups based in both Belize and Guatemala working together with the El Pilar program, we are building an inclusive relationship between the community and the reserve that is mutually beneficial. The development of this dynamic relationship lies at the heart of the El Pilar philosophy—resilient and with the potential to
- educate communities
- reform local-level resource management and
- inform conservation designs for the Maya Forest