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Goals 2005 – 2010. Asociación Vivamos Mejor, Guatemala.
Lake Atitlán
Project description and goals achievement
The Atitlán Watershed Multiple Use Reserve is located in the Highlands of Western
Guatemala, Central America. This protected area aims to conserve the forest ecosystems of
the surrounding mountains and volcanoes, the hydrological functioning of the Lake Atitlán
watershed, the tangible and non-tangible cultural heritage of the region, and its spectacular
natural beauty. The endorheic watershed has its geological origin in a series of cataclysmic
events that created a volcanic caldera, filled partially by Lake Atitlán. The southern part of
the watershed is characterized by the presence of three recent volcanoes that rise up to
3,500 meters above sea level in the Atitlán volcano, all of them covered by cloud forests,
home to the endemic Horned Guan, a rare cracid bird that exists only in Chiapas and
Guatemala. The central portion of the watershed used to be covered by pine-oak forests,
and that is the area where most of the towns, communities and agricultural fields are
located.
The protected area, enacted in 1955 as a national park, it was re-categorized as a Multiple
Use Reserve in 1997, in recognition of the large human population and diverse agricultural
use of the area. Vivamos Mejor started to support local conservation and sustainable
development efforts along with governmental agencies such as CONAP, the National Council
of Protected Areas, the government agency in charge of the official management of the
reserve, INAB, the National Forest Institute, that provides forest protection financial
incentives and AMSCLAE, the Authority for Sustainable Management of Lake Atitlan
Watershed. Municipalities are also partners and beneficiaries of Vivamos Mejor
conservation and management projects. Our projects with local and global partners since
2002 have supported main strategies in the surrounding Lake Atitlán Watershed:
•Establishment of a Regional Municipal Park System with 6,000 Ha of municipal lands under
protection in 7 municipalities of Sololá province
Regional municipal park system
•Establishment of 900 Ha of community-based reforestation projects, with more than 2,000
beneficiaries in 19 municipalities of Sololá province
•Establishment of 2 ecotourism projects in municipal parks and support for a communitybased tourism network in Sololá Province
•Support for the certification of 74 Ha of organic coffee for 8 small producers organizations,
representing 350 families.
•Establishment of Lake Atitlán as an associated member of Living Lakes Network
•Support for Ecological Monitoring Plan in Terrestrial and Aquatic Conservation Targets
Small coffee producers being certified.
ASUVIM 2007
Ecotourism project in Santa Clara la Laguna,
Solola Province. Estuardo Girón, 2007
Water sampling in Lake Atitlan
Estuardo Girón, 2009
Community-based reforestation project in Nahualá.
Francisco Sánchez, 2008
Conservation targets and protected area