The weeping Lacandon Jungle – Selva Lacandona

The PLANETFOND International Charitable Foundation - “Loving Planet” implements projects aimed at maintaining biosystems and ecological balance, strengthening the human connection with nature and preserving indigenous population groups and their distinctive culture. The Fund aims to unite people and businesses around the world to restore the planet’s natural resources, protect and guard animals, and improve the Earth’s climatic conditions. But an equally important initiative of the organization is to support small primitive peoples, those closely integrated into the natural ecosystem. One of these amazing populations is the Lacandons, a small Mayan group living in the tropical forests of Chiapas in southeast Mexico. The “People with a silent step of ghosts" for centuries have passed their knowledge about the relationship of man with the environment and are hanging on by the skin of their teeth to cherish this region of gorges, waterfalls and rivers. It truly is an amazing kingdom. But, despite all their efforts, their world is dying a painful death, along with all its inhabitants. While this small people group cries for help, the planet says goodbye to the largest colony of rare wild jaguars, with more than 1,500 species of unique plants, with 33% of all Mexican birds and 25% of all Mexican animals. The countdown for a world where colorful butterflies are still fluttering and rainbow fish still splash in water began more than half a century ago and has now reached a critical point. Back in the 1970s, in response to growing demand for agricultural land, the Mexican government authorized a new system of agricultural distribution, giving the right to forest use in this area to private companies.  Within a few years, in the pristine forest zone of Lacandona, stretching from the Mexican state of Chiapas through Guatemala to the southern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, more than half of the rain jungle was cut down for agricultural use. At the same time, the popularity of hunting grew - the shooting of rare wildlife was not forbidden here until the 90s. Today, the PLANETFOND Charity Foundation - “Loving Planet” launches a project to partially restore the unique Lacondon natural reservoir and starts raising funds for planting about 60,000 rainforest trees, which will recover between 40 and 60 hectares of lost jungle. And although this figure is not large compared to hundreds of thousands of hectares of selva already lost, it will nevertheless be of great help for the forest, through which life will again run through the veins. Here the birds will again sing their morning trills and proud tapirs will run, the prayers of the Lacandons to their more supportive deities will be heard, and the scorched lungs of this corner of the earth will once more be filled with oxygen.