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MAYA LEADERS ALLIANCE (MLA) Belize

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Empowered lives. Resilient nations. MAYA LEADERS ALLIANCE (MLA) Belize Equator Initiative Case Studies Local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES Local and indigenous communities across the world are 126 countries, the winners were recognized for their advancing innovative sustainable development solutions achievements at a prize ceremony held in conjunction that work for people and for nature. Few publications with the United Nations Convention on Climate Change or case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives (COP21) in Paris. Special emphasis was placed on the evolve, the breadth of their impacts, or how they change protection, restoration, and sustainable management over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories of forests; securing and protecting rights to communal with community practitioners themselves guiding the lands, territories, and natural resources; community- narrative. The Equator Initiative aims to fill that gap. based adaptation to climate change; and activism for The Equator Initiative, supported by generous funding environmental justice. The following case study is one in from the Government of Norway, awarded the Equator a growing series that describes vetted and peer-reviewed Prize 2015 to 21 outstanding local community and best practices intended to inspire the policy dialogue indigenous peoples initiatives to reduce poverty, protect needed to take local success to scale, to improve the global nature, and strengthen resilience in the face of climate knowledge base on local environment and development change. Selected from 1,461 nominations from across solutions, and to serve as models for replication. PROJECT SUMMARY KEY FACTS Maya Leaders Alliance (MLA) is a coalition of Maya Equator Prize Winner organizations and leaders collectively working to 2015 promote the long-term well-being of the Maya people through defending their collective rights to Founded their territories. In 2015, MLA achieved a landmark 1999 legal victory when the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), affirmed that the 39 Q’eqchi and Mopan Maya Location indigenous communities of Toledo hold customary title to their lands, in accordance with Maya customary Toledo District, Belize law. The ruling, which is the first land rights victory Beneficiaries for indigenous peoples in the Caribbean region in a 110 democratic100 court, states90 that Maya traditional80 land use 39 Maya villages, with an estimated population of 21,000 ° ° ° ° practices constitute property rights equal in legitimacy ECONOMICpeople, in the Toledo COMMISSION District of southern Belize FOR UNITED STATESto Western OF forms AMERICA of property ownership. In addition Areas of focus to mobilizing community members and providingLATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN outreach, advocacy, and legal support, MLA promotes Protecting and securing rights to communal lands, territories 30 30° sustainable forest management and environmental and natural resources; advocating for and ensuring the ° conservation efforts. The organization also improves effective implementation of free, prior and informed consent Nassau local education,Gulf health, of Mexico and infrastructure servicesBAHAMAS for (FPIC); advancing rights of indigenous peoples to self- La Habana governance and self-determination; protection, restoration Maya throughout the entire Toledo District. Turks and ATLANTIC OCEAN CUBA Caicos Is. and sustainable management of forests MEXICO DOMINICAN ico R n Is. REPUBLIC to gi in Cayman Is. Sustainabler ir Virg DevelopmentIs. Goals Addressed e V ish HAITI u S it Mexico Kingston P U r P B S 20 20 o ANTIGUA AND ° a ° r t n BARBUDA BELIZE JAMAICA - SAINT KITTS a to Montserrat Belmopan u D AND NEVIS -P o Guadeloupe r m in i DOMINICA HONDURAS c ng Martinique Guatemala Caribbean Sea e o Tegucigalpa SAINT LUCIA GUATEMALA Netherlands BARBADOS NICARAGUA Aruba Antilles R r Managua GRENADA SAINT VINCENT AND o O d THE GRENADINES D a A lv Port of Spain LV a TRINIDAD AND SA n S San José EL Sa PANAMA Caracas TOBAGO COSTA RICA 10 Panamá town 10 ° rge ° eo Medellín VENEZUELA G G SURINAME Santa Fé U Paramaribo de Bogotá Y French Guiana A N Cayenne COLOMBIA A Equator Quito 0 ECUADOR 0 ° Galapagos Is. ° Guayaquil Manaus Belém EQUATOR PRIZE 2017 WINNER FILM PERU Recife BRAZIL 10 Lima 10° ° The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the PACIFICpart of the Secretariat OCEAN of the United Nations or UNDP concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. La Paz Brasília BOLIVIA Sucre P 20 AR 20 ° A ° G U São Paulo A Rio de Janeiro Y Isla San Félix Asunción 100° 90° Isla San Ambrosio Members: Antigua and Barbuda Honduras Argentina Italy 30° Bahamas Jamaica Barbados Mexico Islas 30 Juan Fernãndez A ° Belize Netherlands Santiago N URUGUAY Bolivia Nicaragua ECLAC HQ I Brazil Panama T Buenos Aires Montevideo N Canada Paraguay Chile Peru E Colombia Portugal E G R Costa Rica Saint Kitts and Nevis L 40 Cuba Saint Lucia ° I A Dominica Saint Vincent and the H Dominican Republic Grenadines 50 40 40 Ecuador Spain C ° ° ° El Salvador Suriname Capital city France Trinidad and Tobago Grenada United Kingdom The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance Guatemala United States of America by the United Nations. Guyana Uruguay Haiti Venezuela 50 Falkland Islands *A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United ° (Malvinas) * Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over Associate members: the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). Aruba Netherlands Antilles British Virgin Islands Puerto Rico 0 500 1000 1500 2000 km Montserrat United States Virgin Islands 80° 70° 60° 0 500 1000 mi Map No. 3977 Rev. 5 UNITED NATIONS Department of Field Support November 2011 Cartographic Section BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT The Maya people of Belize inhabited the Toledo District of people of southern Belize are comprised of two linguistic southern Belize and the surrounding region long before subgroups, the Q’eqchi and the Mopan, and their the arrival of Europeans and the colonial institutions estimated population is 21,000. that gave way to the modern State of Belize. The Maya A land of rich biodiversity and cultural heritage From the peaks of the Maya Mountains to the beaches The Maya are a land-based people, deriving their resources of the Caribbean Sea, the 39 Maya villages of the Toledo for food, shelter, medicine, and spiritual practices from District steward an estimated 200,000 hectares of tropical the forests in which they live. The majority of Maya rainforest, savannah and wetland ecosystems, all part of villagers engage in subsistence agriculture according to the Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot. The Toledo District customary land use practices. The Maya apply the milpa is home to several national symbols, including Baird’s Tapir system, which involves rotational planting of corn, beans (Tapirus bairdii), locally known as ‘mountain cow’, the Keel- and other crops, allowing the land to lay fallow between billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus), the Black Orchid growing seasons. Excess harvest is sold at the market (Prosthechea cochleta), and the towering Mahogany and provides a source of income for Maya families. The (Swietenia macrophylla). This district is home to other Maya also harvest lumber and palm thatch to build their significant fauna including the majestic Jaguar Panthera( houses and to craft woven baskets and other household onca), the Collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), the White-tailed items. Traditional medicines derive from the forests as Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the Gibnut (Cuniculus paca), well, for the Maya carry generations of wisdom about the and the Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao). biodiversity of their lands and their healing properties. Traditional governance in Maya communities Traditional farming practices are at the root of the social values that are part of the social, cultural, economic, and and governance structures of Maya communities; working political fabric of the communities. the land is a collective responsibility shared by village members. All families within a village are expected to In each Maya village, land and resource use follows sustainable assist each other in building new housing structures, stewardship practices. There are areas reserved for farming, harvesting crops, and cleaning the village, among other medicinal use, spiritual use, hunting, and conservation tasks. The land use practices of the Maya people contribute to sustain a clean watershed. This system allows for Maya to a community built upon cooperation, reciprocity, and villages to monitor and control any deforestation that may a shared sense of responsibility. Within this traditional occur. Since the Toledo district is home to rare woods such as land tenure system, Maya villages hold land collectively, Mahogany and Rosewood, previously overharvested during whereas individuals and families enjoy derivative, colonial occupation, tracking timber growth and extraction is subsidiary rights of use and occupancy. These land use particularly important. The Maya are working to improve the patterns are governed by a system of customary rules and management of these tree species. 4 The traditional governance institutions of the Maya in the 39 Maya villages
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