Guatemala City
ARCAS participates in a variety of forums and consortiums, including:
Environmental education
Cerro Alux
Networking and fundraising
ARCAS’s Guatemala City office is home to its Environmental Education Department and is where most of its administrative, fundraising and networking activities are carried out. It also serves as a temporary holding center are for rescued animals on their way to Petén or Hawaii.
The Guatemala City Office receives many of the animals that are later transported to Hawaii or Petén. Parrot chicks waiting their turn to be fed.
Environmental Education
ARCAS believes that environmental education is one of the keys to addressing the roots causes of wildlife trafficking and other threats to Guatemala’s natural resources. Since opening its Environmental Education Department in Guatemala City in 1995, ARCAS has reached out to 8-10,000 Guatemalan children per year offering various educational presentations in topics including endangered species, environment and health, litter, migratory birds and sea turtles.
We use live, non-releasable animals, puppets and other props to engage students in a fun, participatory manner, always conveying our principal message: don’t buy wild animals as pets! Thanks to the Columbus and Brevard County Zoos for the development of many of these educational materials.
The Environmental Education Department also operates a program of 'Eco-fieldtrips' of under privileged children from marginalized areas of Guatemala City to the Hawaii Park and Petén to give these young people the opportunity to experience the country’s incredible biodiversity first-hand. For many of these children, it is their first opportunity to escape the pollution and crime of the capital city and see the ocean! Let us know if you would like to sponsor such a trip.
There are opportunities to volunteer in environmental education activities both in Guatemala City, Hawaii and Petén, though these positions do require a fairly high level of Spanish language ability. Let us know if you are interested in volunteering or have access to donated educational supplies.
The ARCAS environmental education carries out presentations at schools in the Guatemala City area using non-releasable wild or domestic animals. Regardless of the theme of the presentation, ARCAS's core message to the children is that they shouldn't buy wild animals as pets.
Cerro Alux
ARCAS is working together with the Municipality of San Lucas to manage the Senderos de Alux Ecological park, a 66 acre reserve of highland pine-oak forests on the outskirts of Guatemala City. At the Park, ARCAS is in charge of educational activities, and with the help of the government’s FONACON fund has constructed interpretive trails, exhibitions, amphitheatres, temporary enclosures for rescued wildlife and a small natural history museum.
The park is part of the larger, 5000 hectare Cordillero de Alux Watershed Protection Area, the largest protected area in the metropolitan region and a very important freshwater catchment area for a city that is already suffering from serious water shortages.
ARCAS will be using the Senderos de Alux Park as a staging area from which to collaborate in the administration of this area.
Networking and fundraising
• The National Association of Environmental NGOS, ASOREMA
• The Guatemalan Committee of the World Conservation Union (IUCN)
• The South Coast Biological Corridor (COBIOSUR)