With the objective of implementing the “One Health” approach in the protected natural areas of the Mayan Forest, shared by Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, a workshop was held focused on the use and management of the Smart Mobile platform. This tool will play a crucial role in early monitoring of wildlife health.
The workshop was carried out as part of the activities of the pilot project “SMART for Health in the Mayan Forest” and was held from September 11 to 15 at the central offices of the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), bringing together officials from different subdirectorates of this environmental protection body, as well as from the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CENAPRECE) of the Ministry of Health of Mexico and the National Service for Health, Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASICA), in addition to operational staff of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, as well as the Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza (FDN) of Guatemala, with whom CONANP carries out different monitoring and surveillance coordination in the protected natural areas of the cross-border region.
At the end of November, the second phase of the workshop will be carried out, using the “Training for Trainers” methodology directly in the field towards park rangers and resource guards from the two countries. This initiative aims to put into practice the categorization agreed upon by CONANP, CENAPRECE and SENASICA, with the main objective of collecting information that supports early monitoring of environmental and animal health in the Mayan Forest region.