Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - Ya'axché Conservation Trust

The Maya Golden Landscape in southern Belize is a biologically rich and ecologically significant region forming part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor and the Selva Maya rainforest. The MGL includes key protected areas such as the Bladen Nature Reserve, Golden Stream Corridor Preserve, Boden Creek Ecological Preserve, and Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve, which host endangered species like the jaguar, Baird’s tapir, and the Central American river turtle. While it provides a vital corridor for endangered flora and fauna, its biodiversity is threatened by deforestation, unsustainable land use and agricultural practices, and climate change. These pressures are particularly acute in communities adjacent to or buffering protected areas, where traditional slash-and-burn milpa farming is becoming less viable due to population growth and land scarcity. Along with ecological factors, the long-term livelihoods of those traditionally residing in and with the landscape have been affected by the challenges of resource depletion.

While the health of protected areas managed and co-managed by Ya’axché Conservation Trust remains healthy, rising deforestation in and beyond community lands threatens the biodiversity of the Maya Golden Landscape as a whole. The socioeconomic context of the MGL is shaped by high poverty rates in comparison to other districts. Indigenous Maya communities rely heavily on subsistence agriculture, agroforestry, and small-scale livestock for their livelihoods. However, limited access to markets, technical support, and sustainable land management practices has hindered economic development and contributed to environmental degradation.

In response to these challenges, the FAO-GEF project aims to mainstream biodiversity into land use and production systems across the MGL.

Building on decades of meaningful progress in the Maya Golden Landscape, this project focuses on three interlinked components: integrated land management planning in protected and community areas, strengthening indigenous and local production systems while protecting biodiversity and creating platforms for knowledge-sharing.

The project will ensure forest reserve in Key Biodiversity Area conserves biodiversity and promote sustainable production through integrated landscape management, for community zones adjacent to KBA conserve biodiversity and promote sustainable production through ILM, indigenous peoples and local communities implement biodiversity-positive production practices in forest reserves and in community zones to support income generating opportunities for both men and women, project knowledge is managed, systematized and disseminated.

Our work is informed by recent Global Environment Facility (GEF) projects focusing on KBA protection, Integrated Landscape Management (ILM), and jaguar corridor enhancement. This project will expand on GEF’s work and the success of Belize’s first agroforestry concession in the Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve to foster synthesis between biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods.

The FAO-GEF Project has been central to expanding Ya’axché Conservation Trust’s capacity to promote sustainable livelihoods, supporting and enhancing the continued local stewardship of the land. Through sustainable production practices in community zones, improved protected areas management, and stronger governance structures for non-timber forest product use in reserves, this project aims to reduce forest loss in Toledo while strengthening indigenous and local production systems. To expand our impact across the Maya Golden Landscape, Ya’axché will create replicable models that can be scaled up throughout Belize’s six districts.

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About FAO and GEF

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations serves as the supervisor for this project, funded by the Global Environment Facility. Since 2006, FAO and the GEF have worked in tandem to meet the challenges at the nexus of agricultural systems and environmental concerns. Together, they have advanced solutions that generate ecological benefits while expanding capacity for food production across the globe. Belize is one of over 130 countries that have taken part in Sustainable Development initiatives led by FAO and the GEF.