The government of Mexico has agreed to buy and preserve 370,000 acres in the Yucatan, as part of the Calakmul Biosphere preserve. The U.S.-based Nature Conservancy will contribute US$1.7 million towards the US$3 million cost of the land in Campeche state.
The Mexican government will buy the land from about 300 Maya communal farmers, known as ejiditarios. The land is selling for about US$8 an acre. The ejiditarios live more than a 100 miles from the property and thus have been unable to work or protect the land.
The land will become part of the 1.8 million-acre Calakmul preserve, the largest contiguous tropical forest outside the Amazon. It also contains the Maya ruins of Calakmul, a rival to Tikal. The biosphere is thought to be home to the largest jaguar population outside the Amazon. It is also home to about 1,600 plant species, 90 kinds of mammals and 350 species of birds.
Official announcement of the purchase is expected to come from the Mexican government later in November.