MESA REDONDA 1997

By Thomas T. Ankersen, José Antonio Montes, and Dolores Balderamos Garcia

Introduction

The Mesa Redonda El Pilar was assembled to initiate the development of a management plan for shared cultural and natural resources and to provide the technical basis for developing a proposal for implementation of the plan. The group included archaeologists, conservationists, ecologists, park planning specialists, landscape architects, community leaders, government agency representatives, and attorneys from three countries. The roundtable was divided into working groups that included management and physical planning, cultural and natural resources, community development, and the legal and institutional framework. This report describes the contribution of the legal working group. Commissioner John Morris, of the Department of Archaeology in Belize, and Milton Cabrera, the coordinator the Consejo Nacional de Areas Protegidas (CONAP) in Guatemala also contributed their expertise to the legal working group. Support for legal working group's participation was provided by the Tropical Ecosystem Directorate of the United States Man and Biosphere Program, the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Objective

The objective of the roundtable was to advance efforts to the achieve integrated administration for a cultural and natural resource shared by two countries. This objective, its rationale, and the means of achievement were set out in a consensus statement of the roundtable referred to as the Declaration of the El Pilar Roundtable. This Declaration includes the names and institutional affiliations of the declarants and is included in this publication.
 
 

Geopolitical Considerations

Joined by an ancient causeway, El Pilar's two primary temple complexes between Cayo, Belize and Petén, Guatemala, provide a symbolism that far exceeds its scale. Although the two countries currently enjoy cordial relations, longstanding territorial disputes have tempered efforts to achieve full bilateral cooperation.

The portion of El Pilar reserved in Belize comprises 808 hectares within Cayo District and north of the village of Bullet Tree Falls. The land surrounding the proposed reserve is used by small agrarian milpa farmers and a rapidly developing tourism economy in nearby San Ignacio. The portion of El Pilar in Guatemala lies within the Multiple Use Zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Municipality of Melchor, Petén. Only recently discovered, a preliminary effort has been undertaken to map the true extent of the site in Guatemala.
 
 

Management Considerations

Archaeologists, conservationists, and anthropologists working at El Pilar are seeking to interpret the site in a unique and innovative manner. The Maya inhabited the forest in numbers estimated to be as great as ten times the present population of the region, presumably extracting resources in a sustainable fashion for centuries until the civilization's eventual decline. Integrating El Pilar into the fabric of the broader community is a stated management objective. Thus, the site's managers are attempting to interpret ancient Maya lifestyle by developing a modern Maya forest garden, based on evidence of ancient Maya polycultivation practices. Local villagers with traditional knowledge are assisting in this effort. Additionally, site researchers seek to transform the interpretive emphasis on monumental architecture in favor of an interpretation that emphasizes the general way of life.

Site developers are also seeking to maintain and restore a remnant of the contemporary Maya forest, the storehouse of tropical biological diversity that survived the ancient civilization. Protected areas within the Maya forest serve as refugia for the flora and fauna that characterize this forest. Recent attention has been focused on the role of these refugia, both large and small, in a greater land use mosaic that can sustain viable populations in the Maya forest today.
 
 

Legal Considerations

To prepare for this effort, the attorneys from Belize and Guatemala each drafted extensive background papers on the respective legal and institutional framework for cultural and natural resource management in the two countries. These vary at the most fundamental level.

As a former crown colony, Belize maintains the tradition of the English Common Law. As a former Spanish colony, Guatemala represents the tradition of the Roman Law. Moreover, the official language of the two countries are English and Spanish respectively. Nonetheless, these distinctions have been blurred in modern times. Most contemporary environmental and natural resource law is code-based, and although English may be the official language of Belize, most Belizeans- particularly in the vicinity of El Pilar - are conversant in the Spanish language. An imaginative approach to law was required.
 
 

Institutional Considerations

The mandate of the El Pilar Roundtable to develop a single management plan for a resource shared by two countries presented a unique challenge to the legal working group. The group approached this challenge by seeking a framework that could accommodate the legal and administrative requirements of the separate sovereigns involved. Such a framework would provide for one management plan implemented by two management units, each representing the portion of the resource located within each country.

Interestingly, the physical characteristics of the shared site dovetail conveniently with its administrative realities. That is, in El Pilar - Belize, where the cultural resource presents a management priority, the cultural resource agency enjoys primary jurisdiction. In El Pilar - Guatemala, where the natural resource represents the primary management concern, the natural resource agency enjoys primary jurisdiction. To address management issues common to both units, a coordinating committee comprising the appropriate representatives from the governmental resource agencies, non-governmental entities and community involved in management would be established to ensure coordination and consistency with the agreed management plan by each management unit.
 
 

Belize Management Unit:

Archaeology of El Pilar

Belizean resource law provides flexibility in terms of the institutional design for the Belize management unit. Belize also has a strong precedent for the delegation of management authority for protected areas to non-governmental institutions, exemplified by the government's agreement with Belize Audubon Society to manage six national protected areas. However, this has never been done in the case of archaeological reserves. Moreover archaeological reserves, as cultural patrimony, enjoy a special status under Belizean law. Accordingly, based on the analysis provided the Belizean legal expert, the legal working group concluded that the best approach would be to develop a "co-management agreement" between an appropriate NGO and the Department of Archaeology, pursuant to a regulation prepared by the Department. The NGO would assume day to day management responsibility for the site with the Department of Archaeology exercising governmental oversight, providing security and other resources, and participating in a proposed management plan coordinating committee. A representative of the local community would also serve on the proposed committee.

Belizean law does not require the development of a management plan for archaeological sites prior to their establishment. Also, protected area management plans in Belize do not have the force of law due to the absence of a specific regulation to that effect. Nonetheless, the working group agreed that it would be preferable if the El Pilar Management Plan had the imprimatur of law. Appropriate reference to the future adoption of the plan could be provided in the subsidiary regulation issued by the Department of Archaeology to establish the Reserve (In Belize, such regulations are known as "Statutory Instruments," or SI.).
 
 

Guatemala Management Unit:

Ecology of El Pilar

In Guatemala, the management unit already enjoys a measure of protected status. The site lies within the Multiple Use Zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Jurisdiction over the Reserve resides in CONAP. Activities proposed within this zone must be consistent with the laws and regulations governing protected areas in Guatemala and with the Master Plan for the Reserve adopted by CONAP. The Master Plan presents a range of options in the Multiple Use Zone including concessions for resource extraction and other activities by communities, commercial interests, and NGOs. However, as an archaeological site, concurrent jurisdiction also resides in IDAEH, the Instituto de Anthropología e Historia. A proposal to designate the temple complex as an national monument in Guatemala has recently been submitted to IDAEH.

The working group concluded that the best strategy for management of the Guatemala management unit would be to have an appropriate NGO petition CONAP for a concession to manage the cultural and natural resources as a protected area under the provisions of the protected areas law and its subsidiary regulations, and conclude a similar management agreement with IDAEH. Within CONAP, this process requires an environmental impact study and the approval of a five year management plan and one year operational plan.
 
 

Integrated Administration

Despite a considerable literature promoting the concept of binational parks throughout the world, research has revealed no instances where contiguous protected areas reflected truly integrated management across national borders. Thus, achieving the plan for El Pilar can represent a true innovation in contemporary protected areas management. To address management issues common to both management units, the legal working group concluded that a "soft management" coordinating committee should be established.

Such a management committee could be comprised of the appropriate representatives from the governmental resource agencies, non-governmental entities and communities from both countries involved in management decision making. The committee would meet regularly to ensure coordination and consistency with the agreed management plan by each management unit, and make recommendations concerning the plan's implementation. In addition, the working group recommended the establishment of a multidisciplinary technical advisory board composed of individuals with an interest and expertise in the management issue confronting El Pilar. The advisory board would sit in a voluntary capacity to advise on an as-needed basis. This management framework would include formal mechanisms for the resolution of management conflicts at the site.

Summary

The legal working group concluded that the integrated management of the shared cultural and natural resource represented by El Pilar could be achieved within the existing legal framework of Guatemala and Belize. New legislation will not be required nor does bilateral implementation necessarily require a specific international treaty instrument. Instead, integrated management can be achieve by developing one management plan that can be implemented by two management units representing the portions of the reserve within each country. Some diplomatic recognition, such as an exchange of notes, would undoubtedly bolster efforts to achieve integrated management, and could be accomplished within the broader framework of cultural exchange agreement.

There remains significant issues to be resolved relating to the form and nature of the delegations to non-governmental organizations, the forms of international cultural exchange agreements, financial mechanisms, community participation, site security, reciprocal arrangements for cross-border visitation and research, appropriate mechanisms to resolve disputes, etc. Nonetheless, the key determination at this juncture in the planning process is that integrated management of a shared cultural and natural resource is feasible and that an institutional framework can be crafted within which details can be addressed.