Adventure Travel
 
Wildlife experts stress that the Laguna del Tigre National Park, in the Petén department of Guatemala, consists of 70 to 80 percent of forest, an outstanding biodiversity and essential freshwater reservoirs, and that makes it a vital area to be preserved. Environmentalists sense the need to put emphasis on the ecological importance of the National Park because some institutions are interested to exploit the area because of petroleum. Some particular institutions think and believe that there is nothing to protect in the said area.

The executive secretary of the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP), Claudia Santizo stated that 80 percent of the park is embodied with different types of vegetation and that approximately area of over 43000 hectares of the reserve's swamplands and freshwater reservoirs ought to be conserved. Secretary Santizo stated that the most important wetland of Mesoamerica is the Laguna del Tigre National Park, to the point that because of the danger of the expansion of oil contracts a global mission of the Ramsar Wetlands Convention are going to visit Guatemala in the approaching weeks. In addition, Byron Castellanos, from Balam Association also explained that the Laguna del Tigre Reserve is among the 14 ecosystems that is important to the Maya Biosphere Reserve. He even more discussed that it's the sole location where the Scarlet Macaw propagate, a species at risk of annihilation, and that it's the location with the jam-packed population of the Mesoamerican River Turtle, which is another at risk species.The reserve is considered to have great cultural significance, because numerous archaeological Mayan sites can be found inside of the reserve like El Peru Waka, which was previously the commercial contact among Tikal and Calakmul. Castellanos added that the San Pedro River is born in the Laguna del Tigre Reserve and that this very important waterway will be lost if the location is left behind. The coordinator of the Environmental Legal Action Center, Rafael Maldonado, mentioned that those involved in promoting oil drilling sell the idea that there is no biodiversity left in the preserved area; they happen to be assisted by the frame of mind of existing and past governments who desire to reduce the budget of CONAP. He further stated that the National Park is a secure location for many hundreds of species of migratory birds and that protecting the flora and fauna of the location could possibly provide the local communities a more useful living besides oil. Maldonado mentioned that continuing the oil contract is of huge risk to the park because it permits to carry on operating the Xan well, drill five more wells and renovate 6 others that were left behind. The Vice President of the Republic, Rafael Espada, expressed to be in support of the oil exploitation, as long as it's carried out within the law, as well as he fended off to rule in favor of stretching the contract or protecting the Laguna del Tigre National Park.

Santizo once again mentioned that CONAP contradicts the oil contract extension, as a result of the detrimental result.

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