_____ The
ancient Maya evolved a sustainable economy in the tropics of Mesoamerica.
Today, these forests shroud the prehistoric Maya cities and would preserve
them for posterity were it not for the illegal looting, the advancing
agricultural clearing, and even the trampling of tourism. At El Pilar,
we are breaking with tradition by pioneering a conservation model that
draws on lessons learned from the recent and distant past. The El Pilar
conservation model is destined to revise Maya prehistory, recover vanishing
farming traditions, and exhibit an authentic window into Maya prehistory.
Government protection, community participation, and a holistic cultural-ecological
science are the building blocks of the unique cooperative team effort
evolving around El Pilar to make a replicable design for the Maya forest
that has application for comparable examples worldwide. We are in a critical
juncture in the development of the shared vision for El Pilar. We now
have the unique opportunity to firmly establish the El Pilar model to
recover the Maya forest and transform our knowledge of the cultural heritage
for the region to apply beyond. |
