Teaching Secrets of Conservation and Prosperity in the Maya Forest

Conservation of our scarce natural and cultural resources is the major issue of the 21^stCentury. Deforestation is one common threat, and nowhere is this graver than in the tropical forests. Protecting the tropics has become a major concern in past decades, yet it has been with an approach that rests on the western conservation model of removing the human element from the equation. Is this our best option? Perhaps we should explore solutions past.

The Maya Forest Garden

Tropical research on ecology and botany of the Maya forest of Mesoamerica demonstrates that the forest is dominated by useful plants, likely the result of landscape domestication by the ancient Maya thousands of years ago.  This sustainable co-creative process between the Maya and nature continues to shape the Maya Forest we know today. Threatened by competing interest of modern-day development, a diminishing group of forest gardeners still grow fields into forests. Their practice protects against deforestation, preserves biodiversity, and provides food, medicine and more for local communities. Without them, we will not have a forest conservation model that honors cultural heritage and includes the needs of people.

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The co-evolution of the Maya and their environment was based on a strategy of resource management that resulted in a landscape called the Maya “forest garden.” During the Archaic period, between 8,000 and 4,000 years ago, the ancestral Maya established an intimate relationship with an expanding tropical forest. As mobile horticulturalists, they modified the landscape to meet their subsistence needs.

The agricultural system that the Maya developed from this archaic system underwrote the civilization. It is called the milpa cycle, a polycultivated, tree-dominated, biodiverse landscape which works in accordance with natural cycles and maximizes the utility of native flora and fauna. The Maya milpa cycle sequences from a closed canopy forest to an open field.  When cleared, it is dominated by annual crops that transform into a managed orchard garden, and then back to a closed canopy forest in a continuous circuit. Contrary to European agricultural systems developed around the same period, these fields are never abandoned, even when they are forested. Thus, it is more accurate to think of the milpa cycle as a rotation of annuals with succeeding stages of forest perennials during which all phases receive careful human management. Image courtesy BRASS/El Pilar

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Many of the native Maya forest plants have played a significant role in the global economy— cacao for sweets, vanilla for flavor, logwood for fabric dye, mahogany for wood, chicle for chewing gum, and annatto for food coloring. The traditional Maya who have managed the forest and its gardens represent a technological legacy of skills, strategies, and practices that have a direct link to the Maya past and may prove to explain the rise of the ancient Maya civilization.

Traditional Maya farmers are found from the northern Yucatan region in Mexico to the southern Petén of Guatemala, as well as in Belize. At the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna of Belize and Guatemala, forest gardeners in the community work with a demonstration garden amid the archaeological treasures through the El Pilar Forest Garden Network. This garden is a living link between modern Maya forest gardeners and the ancient Maya who once lived at El Pilar, providing a space to share these traditional practices with interested community members and visitors.

Traditional Maya practices and strategies serve to conserve water, enhance soil fertility, promote biodiversity, and provide essential family nutrition. This knowledge continues to be fostered since the conquest 500 years ago, handed down through generations.  

Global land use strategies have eclipsed the traditional processes but not their potential. Persistent traditionalists, the original permaculturalists and heroes of the Maya forest, are ready to share their secrets of prosperity and conservation. In the El Pilar area of Cayo, Belize, this knowledge is being passed on to future generations at the Santa Familia Primary School. The new Maya forest garden,Känan K’aax, or “well-tended forest” in Mayan, offers an innovative venue for learning about these Maya traditions.

With the support of the National Geographic Society Conservation Grant, Exploring Solutions Past~The Maya Forest Alliance and the El Pilar Forest Garden Network enhanced the school garden space and developed a school program of study. This program links the traditions of Maya forest gardening with the current education curriculum, bringing outdoor learning to young students in the area of the ancient center of El Pilar.

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The demonstration garden at El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna of Belize and Guatemala.

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The School Conservation Project

Passed down through side-by-side practice, knowledge of the Maya forest accumulates through direct experience and guidance with a master forest gardener. In the past, people learned in the footsteps of their parents. Now things are changed. The experiential setting of the school garden project extends the potential of spreading forest garden knowledge, engaging teachers, their students, and the community in appreciating their cultural heritage through environmental stewardship.

The forest gardeners recognize that their practices are vanishing as the traditional farmers grow old and conventional mechanical and technological agriculture expands. In the short time of our project period, three of the elder Maya farmers and two conservation advocates who have been key to the development and success of the Maya forest garden project are no longer with us.  These elders were promoters of fundamental Maya traditions, embodied in their recognition of the well-tended forest, Känan K’aax.

Clearly the support of the model primary school garden project, Känan K’aax, comes at a critical time and is of major importance. The forest garden project, endorsed by the Ministry of Education and adopted into the local Santa Familia Primary School programs, holds the promise to link contemporary global teaching goals of math and science with local traditional environmental awareness. It provides a means to honor local traditions and to propagate local forest garden strategies and practices for the youth of the area.

Community involvement in the Maya forest garden project permitted its successful integration and institutionalization into school programs. Together, we established basic infrastructure and promoted a teacher introductory workshop. We involved the school principal and all the schoolteachers in program development and initiation by implementing curriculum activities that connected their current teaching requisites. On-site actions at the Känan K’aax model garden were designed to promote involvement in health, nutrition, and environment while linking local traditions of forest gardening to the Major Maya center of El Pilar.

No Child Left Indoors

The model school garden Känan K’aax is a community-teaching site and a magnificent tool for the primary school.  It serves as a model for other schools in the area and beyond as a resource on traditional Maya practices. Currently under the stewardship of the Santa Familia Primary School administration, Känan K’aax is now a fenced, gated, and welcoming site. This resource is critical for primary school students, and also for adolescent youth engaging in apprenticeships with the El Pilar Forest Garden Network.   Working with their elders, youth apprentices garner a deep understanding of forest gardening, and help build a focus on conservation and prosperity.

The plan to formalize Känan K’aax will set it as the Maya forest garden educational site of Belize with a hands-on and accessible forest garden aimed to teach fundamentals of traditional practices to children and other interested groups. The model Känan K’aax garden provides a basis to teach and understand the importance and inherent value of the conservation strategies of the traditional Maya.

Improving Infrastructure of the Garden

A major effort was devoted to construction, making Känan K’aax safe and accessible for school children as well as visitors. In the past, forest gardeners had to deal with animals walking into the garden, valuable plants like orchids were removed from their setting, degrading the value of the work at the site. Consequently, our project funded fencing, a latrine, and a covered teaching galleria. The result is a secure area for the garden for the school children and visitors.

The completion of the garden improvements was a team effort; elders provided posts from their own forest reserves, designed the latrines, and led the galleria construction working with the youth. These additions create a comfortable setting for appreciating the garden and learning and the plants.

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Santa Familia school and Kännan K’aax are shown together on this sketch map

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This sketch map shows the numbered plots and garden paths.

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Narciso stands in the entrance of the newly constructed galleria.

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Planting Seeds of Knowledge

The Känan K’aax model garden has designated areas featuring annual and perennial plants. Weaving around the planted areas are trails, which are clearly marked with white stones, guiding students around the forest garden. Along the trails, we designed signs and labels so students can read about the foods, herbs, as well as fruits and flowers. They can also observe the plants that revel in the sun and those that need to be sequestered in the shade. Observation is one of the most important aspects of activities in the Känan K’aax garden and promises to bring gardens from school into the home. The inspiration of this model is designed to insure that the traditional Maya practices are not lost.

The Santa Familia Primary School garden initiative is dedicated to student education and village participation to bring alive the excitement of the garden and the out-of-doors. Research has shown that children excel in the outdoor setting, and now the village of Santa Familia has a garden available for field activities outlined in our workbook that connect directly to math, science, and other school subjects taught in the classroom. The Känan K’aax school garden offers a versatile, secure, and engaging site for education.

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A group of students gather around Master gardener Narciso Torres as he teaches in the garden.

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Young students join in during day two of the garden workshop.

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Students learning to graph leaf length data they collected in the garden.

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During an interactive Plant Bingo lesson kids learn how to identify Ceiba, a tree species found in the Maya forest.

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Cultivating an Educational Model

In the course of the project, we developed a close working rapport with the Belize Ministry of Education and school Principal Donicio Escobar. Together we created appropriate didactic literature for educational programs designed for schoolteachers. A map of the site with trails and plant communities was created based on the knowledge of the forest gardeners. In addition, we printed a new forest garden plant book in English and Spanish to supplement the school teaching efforts and for sale to support the ongoing forest garden aim of the Känan K’aax. These materials were developed in the context of the first teacher workshop that we coordinated for professional development. Our workbooks were enthusiastically received by the school principal and formed the basis of our professional development workshop with the local schoolteachers. As a testament to its importance, the school has requested that we offer this workshop every year.

The workshop, scheduled after the close of classes, was a remarkable and challenging event that brought the teachers into the Känan K’aax garden setting and worked with student activities designed to meet the requirements of the Belize school curriculum. The teacher workshop culminated the on site developments and served as the first step to bringing the model Känan K’aax garden into the school programs.

Within the context of the school linkages, we scheduled field trips to El Pilar. The school visits to El Pilar, with the leadership of the forest gardeners, help to connect the children to their ancestral past. These events were filmed by local television and aired nation wide on the program Belize Watchand have helped to showcase the value of community work in conservation.

Conserving the Past for the Future

The Känan K’aax garden project acknowledges the need for educational content that promotes the survival of traditional Maya farming and its conservation legacy.  By investing in education that links elder traditional knowledge with youth, traditional forest garden strategies have the opportunity to live on.

Exploring Solutions Past~The Maya Forest Alliance is building recognition of the valuable skills and strategies of the Maya forest gardeners. By linking the well-known connections of contemporary Maya farming practices to the ancient Maya at El Pilar, they are encouraging youth to learn these profitable and sustainable domestic living practices. As the Känan K’aax model school garden program flourishes, Exploring Solutions Past ~Maya Forest Alliance is in the process of actively establishing a Känan K’aax Sister Garden Program. The program’s objective is to link school and community gardens regionally and internationally with practices of Maya forest gardeners, promoting environmental stewardship, biodiversity, interculturality, and the No Child Left Indoors philosophy.

Knowing children are open to learning, thirsty for new experience, and excited to engage with the forest garden, is a platform for conservation. They are the hope for the future of conservation of natural resources and can keep the Maya forest alive. The development of this program in Belize connects Maya environmental traditions with fundamental education curriculum. Without the traditional knowledge and understanding of the flora and fauna of the Maya forest, the next generation will lose their connection to their landscape, the Maya forest. The Känan K’aax model school garden provides a context for children to learn from their elders and to forge their connection to their Maya ancestors. Further, the garden site offers a space and opportunity to learn about the Maya forest that cannot exist without the community.

Students learning how to properly plant Chaya, an edible tree spinach common in the Maya forest.

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Acknowledgements

This project at the Känan K’aax school garden in Santa Familia owns a debt of gratitude to many individuals and organizations.  This phase of the project would not have been possible without the confidence of National Geographic Society for their support through their Conservation Grant program. 

I want to express my greatest appreciation to Alcario Cano, now passed, whose inspired wisdom gave the model garden its name, Känan K’aax. He was the founding president of the El Pilar Forest Garden Network, and their collaboration is what brought this phase to fruition. While all the Forest Gardeners have made their contributions, I want to give a heartfelt thanks to Narciso Torres and Alfonso Tzul, whose hard work and dedication helped make concepts a reality.

Cynthia Ellis became an essential ingredient for our work, bringing in the youth and her extensive knowledge of the Belize education system.  Her collaboration and contribution to the community outreach was critical to our success.

And finally, it goes without saying that the input and endorsement of the Belize Ministry of Education was fundamental to the execution of the teachers’ development workshop.  Important at the school, of course, is Principal Donicio Escobar whose enthusiasm was palpable throughout the process.

- Anabel Ford and Exploring Solutions Past ~ The Maya Forest Alliance

Learn more at our websites:

espmaya.org, mayaforestgardeners.org, marc.ucsb.edu

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By Anabel Ford

*Republished with permission from Popular Archaeology

Anabel Ford is dedicated to decoding the ancient Maya landscape. While living in Guatemala in 1978, she learned from local people that the Maya forest was an edible garden when she mapped a 30-km transect between the Petén sites of Tikal and Yaxhá. In 1983, she discovered and later mapped the Maya city El Pilar. In 1993, after settlement survey and excavations, she launched a multidisciplinary program to understand the culture and nature of El Pilar. Ford’s publications are cited nationally and internationally as part of the foundation of Maya settlement pattern studies. Her archaeological themes are diverse, appearing in geological, ethnobiological, geographical, and botanical arenas and locally in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. Her concern for management of cultural monuments, in-situ conservation, and tourism appear in Getty publications.