El Pilar Forest Garden Network

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Welcome!

Welcome to the El Pilar Forest Garden Network Homepage!

Can you tell?

Vanilla and chocolate are both Maya forest garden crops, yet these crops are indistinguishable from those growing in the wild.

The El Pilar Forest Garden Network is connecting farmers in the Maya forest so that they may share their sustainable cultivation techniques with each other, and the world.

The Network helps Maya forest gardeners by working to provide economic stability, keep Maya traditions alive, promote sustainable practices and conserve the biodiversity of the Mesoamerican tropics.

The Maya forest gardeners are on the right track. They are promoting sustainable livelihoods by growing their own fruits and vegetables, depending on the local economy by buying from the local markets and hiring local labor. They are sustaining the biodiversity of the forest by nurturing and sustainably harvesting plants within it. These farmers can be a model for other developing nations suffering from the same problems. "Most experienced environmentalists and conservationists have discovered that unless people have a direct stake and interest in conservation, then the best designed projects in the world stand little chance for long-term success. Meanwhile, scientists have begun to demonstrate how native peoples can teach us new models for sustained natural resource use and management. Their ancient indigenous traditions, developed through millennia of experience, observation, and experiment, are extremely relevant in providing future options for sustainable natural resource management.”

-Posey, D. A. “Traditional Knowledge, Conservation, and ‘The Rain Forest Harvest’” in Plotkin, M. and L. Famolare, Eds. (1992). Sustainable Harvest and Marketing of Rain Forest Products. Washington, DC, Island Press. pg. 46.

The Network continues to grow and with your help can improve its resources, abilities and effectiveness in conserving the biodiversity of the Mesoamerican tropics, providing economic stability to Maya forest gardeners, keeping Maya traditions alive, and promoting sustainable practices across the globe.