Colouring to save the Maya forest

Published in 2009

Anabel Ford, an American archaeologist and an Associate Laureate in the 2000 Rolex Awards, has published a colouring book for schoolchildren in Belize, “The Maya Forest Garden and El Pilar”. For over 20 years, Dr Ford has run a wide-ranging research and conservation programme on the ancient Maya city of El Pilar, in Belize.

Published in February 2007 and containing a mine of information for eight- to 10-year-olds, the book is designed to raise awareness of the need to protect biodiversity. With the help of sketches and short texts it presents 18 plants and trees from the tropical forest of Central America which have been cultivated since Mayan times. In 42 pages, schoolchildren discover what these plants look like, where they can be found and how they can be used. In her introduction, Ford explains the principle behind the “forest garden” – a system of sustainable agroforestry developed at El Pilar long ago by the Maya, whereby vegetables, grains, medicinal plants and fruit trees are grown together in the heart of the tropical forest.

“This heritage holds the secrets of balancing conservation and cultural prosperity,” says the Associate Laureate, who is helping create these gardens inside the El Pilar archaeological reserve, set up in 1998 in an area straddling the border between Belize and Guatemala. With the help of many local farmers, who are enthusiastic forest gardeners, the El Pilar project is conserving the cultural and natural heritage of the Mayan people.

For Anabel Ford, publishing a children’s book fits in perfectly with this project: “We need to instil pride in these time-honoured traditions among the younger generations”, she says. “Forest gardeners are ageing and their knowledge needs to be perpetuated. This needs to happen among the youth. If we don’t have young people following [the older generation], we won’t have any forests in the future.”

With support from the government of Belize and the National Institute for Culture and History, the book has already been distributed free of charge to more than 8,000 schoolchildren in Belize.

A Spanish version for distribution in Guatemala is currently in preparation.

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