The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a Natural Protected Area (NPA) of 723 thousand hectares, managed by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), is located in the south of the state of Campeche, Mexico and is considered one of the most important green lungs in the country and the world. Due to its natural and cultural characteristics, in 2014 it was recognized as a Mixed World Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with the name Ancient Mayan City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul.

On June 23, 2019, the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve commemorated 30 years of its creation. As part of the celebration, sports, academic and cultural activities were held, all with the aim of making us think about the survival of this type of spaces in the midst of a context of global warming, extinction of species, land use change and increase in solid waste.

Within the framework of this event, the Selva Maya Programme of the German Cooperation (GIZ) supported some activities such as a photographic exhibition, a talk on the importance of birds in the Selva Maya, the launching of the Sello Colectivo Calakmul certificate, a scientific colloquium held at the Technological University of Calakmul and the inauguration of an ecotourism alternative called “Handicrafts Route”, which included a guided tour in the community of 20 de Noviembre.

Let us remember that the NPA emerge as a resource of containment to the increasingly growing intervention of man, not always positive, in the habitat. Its function is clear and essential in relation to the preservation of natural environments, the safeguarding of genetic diversity and the rescue / disclosure of knowledge necessary for sustainable use. We wish this Reserve a long life!