How one community in Guatemala lives off the forest, while protecting it for the future

The sound of chainsaws rips through the air. A tree falls to the ground. 

This may sound like the usual destruction of our environment, but this time, it's not what it seems. These loggers at work actually live in the forest — and want to protect it.

Within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, part of one of the largest tracts of rainforest in Central America, are more than 80,000 hectares of land cared for by the villagers of Uaxactún. 

This clip from the "Forest" episode of Shared Planet, a series from The Nature of Things, Uaxactún mayor Erwin Maas shows how the community lives off the forest, while protecting it for the future. 

A member of the Q'eqchi', Maas sees the forest as a part of himself. 

"For me, the forest is part of who I am," he says. "When you go into the forest, you connect with nature."

Walking through the underbrush, Maas and his team of loggers are looking for a tree they can cut down. Uaxactún relies on the forest's resources for its exports — sustainable lumber, palm fronds for floral arrangements, tree nuts sold as a superfood — and One mahogany tree, for example, can fetch roughly $23,000 — a significant sum in a country where the annual income is close to $10,000. But it's not just humans that rely on the forest.

Looking up at one prospective tree, Maas notices a flash of red. The canopy is a refuge for the fewer than 200 scarlet macaws left in Guatemala. 

Lacking the beautiful plumage of its parents, a baby macaw is nestled in a hollow high above the forest floor. This fledgling is the future. To protect the trees is to protect the species.

Maas designates this tree as a "seeder." It will be left standing to propagate other trees while also providing a home for wildlife. 

In doing so, Maas and his community are thinking long-term. "What do you gain from clear cutting?" he said. "In one year, it can be very lucrative. But you are stealing from future generations."

Not everyone agrees. On the edge of the community's forest, a pile of leaf litter is set alight, threatening extensive damage to the community's forest. Drug cartels want to clear the land for illegal cattle ranching — a way of laundering money.

In this part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, designating an area as a national park is not the most effective way of safeguarding the forest. It's Maas and his community, who live and work there and are committed to protecting it. 

Watch the video above for the full story.

Watch Shared Planet on CBC Gem and in 4K on The Nature of Things YouTube channel.