Policy Brief

POLICY BRIEF NO. 18 · APRIL 2016 Guatemala’s Environmental Challenges: Vulnerabilities and Policy Solutions HIGHLIGHTS The topic of the environment has special urgency for Guatemala given significant land degradation and its tight links to poverty and inequality, vulnerability to disasters, and tensions involving mining enterprises and land rights. Guatemalan religious actors engage in global and national debates about climate change and, at community and national levels, advocate for action and mobilize community responses. As a historically Catholic country, Guatemalan religious leaders take special inspiration from Pope Francis’s call in his May 2015 Encyclical, Laudato Si’, for people of all faiths to engage in dialogue to protect what he terms ‘Our Common Home’. ENVIRONMENTAL VULNERABILITIES AND 2013), 35 percent of land area, and 11.5 percent of GDP.5 Cattle CHALLENGES ranching in Petén and large-scale agriculture, including African Many Guatemalan eco-systems and species are threatened; palm, are key drivers of deforestation. The fast-growing African this is especially significant as the country ranks first in palm industry attracts special attention, with pesticides and other Central America for the number of eco-regions and endemic chemical runoff reaching rivers and lakes, threatening fish stocks 6,7 species. Over 9,000 plant and animal species in 66 ecosystems are and contaminating drinking water. In the northern Petén area, counted, with more than 13 percent of those species considered pollution from a local African palm plantation killed tens of endemic to Guatemala.1 Map of Government-Issued Mining Licenses in Guatemala Water is a threatened resource in Guatemala and observers as of March 2012. see substantial, measurable changes in several critical areas. Water tables across the highland regions are dropping due to a combination of deforestation, soil erosion, forest fragmentation, and intensive farming. The cloud forests of the Guatemalan highlands and the Petén rainforest in the north, both vital for rain absorption, are considered some of the planet’s most critically endangered ecosystems.2 Recurring drought caused in part by El Niño weather patterns have strained agricultural production, with an estimated crop loss of up to 60 percent.3 Rising temperatures threaten high-altitude soils and the cultivation of crops traditionally grown in these regions. Pest epidemics have increased significantly, affecting an estimated 70 percent of coffee plants.4 Rainfall patterns have changed; short torrential downpours exacerbate erosion. Poor farming practices and mismanaged non-farming industries have detrimental effects on Guatemala’s ecosystems. 116 exploration, 274 exploitation, 1 survey. Source: Dani Villatoro / Plaza Pública; Agriculture accounts for about a third of total employment (in Ministry of Energy and Mines, Guatemala. thousands of fish in the Pasión River in spring 2015, affecting traditions. Individual religious leaders and faith communities the livelihoods of over 12,000 people from 17 communities lead specific advocacy efforts (for example on extractive who depend on the local fishing industry.8 industries and land rights) and community mobilization, for example in response to natural disasters. Non-farming industries—especially mining—often damage natural resources. Mining operations in Guatemala Faith-inspired environmental activists and development have increased since the late 1990s. Heavy use of chemicals actors in Guatemala alike would benefit from a better and poor treatment of waste pollute water tables, rivers, and knowledge of faith-inspired interventions and best practices. soils. Problems are concentrated in five departments in the The following themes and illustrations suggest ways forward. Guatemalan highlands (see map). Regulatory oversight, transparency, and accountability are poor, and social and 1. Religious Advocacy for Environmental political tensions around extractive industries are mounting. Protection The array of partnerships in Guatemala that plays vital roles Guatemala is prone to natural disasters including volcanic in social services includes many with religious affiliations. activity, hurricanes, and landslides. The government Numerous religious groups, individually or together with is building capacity, with support from the World Bank other civil society groups, engage in issue-based advocacy. and other partners, and adopted the 2009-2011 National However, fragmentation across and within traditions Program for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, but disaster limits the scale and effectiveness of national advocacy and preparedness remains weak. nationwide coordinated engagement among development and faith sectors. The Catholic Church is able to organize 9 Guatemala’s high population rate (2.5 percent per year ) through national institutions but Protestant churches—and contributes to pressure for access to land and other especially evangelicals/pentecostal congregations—are more natural resources. Where the local population is primarily fragmented, with various approaches shaping if or how to dependent on subsistence agriculture, these pressures are engage on social issues. The absence of any coordinating accentuated by long-standing land concentration dating body that can develop or articulate a collective voice frustrates from the late nineteenth century. efforts to influence government policy and support public and private action on environmental issues. ROLE OF CHURCH AND FAITH Religious actors confront the issues around environmental The Catholic Church has been the most vocal religious degradation and climate change in various ways. Guatemala’s voice for environmental protection and land rights in religious landscape is dynamic and quite complex. Catholicism Guatemala. Many Church organizations, for example the was until recently the dominant faith tradition; Protestants, Catholic Pastoral de la Tierra (an initiative focused on land with a majority evangelical/pentecostal, are an estimated 40 issues), operate within dioceses and advocate actively for percent of the total population (2014).10 Mayan spirituality is environmental protection. However, to date no overarching vital for the large indigenous population and is tightly linked national Catholic Church approach to environmental issues to deep-seated ethnic, social, and political tensions. Each has emerged. religious segment has an array of institutional structures, with, for example, various Catholic orders operating under Protestant churches11 engage in generally small and discrete the umbrella of the Catholic Church. Evangelical leaders efforts to support local government or community projects, and churches are rarely organized in hierarchical structures but without a unified agenda or coherent response. The non- and tend to be fragmented. Political activism of various hierarchical organization within evangelicalism contributes faith communities varies, often affected by legacies of bitter to fragmentation, as do divergences in practical approaches conflicts; some religious leaders for example, choose to avoid and in theological interpretations of the Bible. politics or activism while others are actively engaged. Many Maya are Christians but in addition a Maya Specific religious activism on the different environmental cosmovision, which views all elements of nature as connected challenges facing Guatemala varies. At present no national and living, motivates many Maya people to speak out against faith-inspired and environmental organization or movement harmful environmental practices. Various Maya associations works to coordinate religious actors across denominations or address environmental issues, but there is no national 2 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY organization or approach. Maya priests are considered the of American States (OAS), a report was presented by the traditional and cultural authorities in many communities Catholic Church, Maya lawyers, and non-religious actors with potential capacity for leadership and inspiring behavior against the African palm industry in Guatemala. The report change. The historical and religious ties of the Maya to the claimed, inter alia, violation of human rights in part because land, previously disregarded in Guatemala, can be a positive the palm plantations are concentrated in territory considered asset for policy and projects; likewise lack of consultation and sacred by the indigenous communities. engagement can be a recipe for failure. Procedures to assure consultation with indigenous 2. Extractive Industries communities on various dimensions of land reform are an Current approaches to development of Guatemala’s natural active issue. Communities assert that they are rarely consulted resources are contentious. Issues include decisions on before development projects are initiated, as required by proposed new mining ventures (including land rights) and Guatemalan law and international standards. Community various aspects of existing mining enterprises, including consultations can be demanding and time consuming, as they management of community relations, water issues, and require clear interlocutors and work to ensure community revenue sharing. Several Catholic bishops are among the best- support. Development of practical mapping tools to guide known critics or opponents of various mining enterprises in consultations with indigenous communities would be helpful, Guatemala. Through its Pastoral de la Tierra, the Catholic

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