Guatemala has lost a third of its Mayan jungle in 23 years

Guatemala has lost, in the last two decades, a third of its Mayan jungle, according to satellite data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The main cause of deforestation in this forest, considered the largest in America after the Amazon, is livestock, according to the reportsince in the area there are large portions of land dedicated to raising livestock.

Texas State University researcher Jennifer Devine also saw something unusual: aerial photographs taken by satellites identified several cattle ranches with “isolated grasslands, a shortage of livestock, and the presence of clandestine airstrips that suggest that “ranches are used for purposes other than livestock.”

El Petén, where most of the Mayan jungle is located, borders Mexico, and on several occasions the agents that SGAIA, an anti-drug information analysis subdirectorate of Guatemala, and that country’s Army have dismantled important crops of coca leaf and marijuana. In addition to finding clandestine clues.

But the deforestation of the jungle is not only due to that cause: according to NASA, the expansion of the oil palm has been another cause, particularly due to its rapid growth in the Mayan jungle.

In 2001, the portion of land dedicated to this plantation was 30 square kilometers. In 2017, the planting grew to 860 square kilometers.

“We often see that forests that were initially cleared for livestock later become oil palm plantations,” explained Diego Incer, a remote sensing expert at the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala.

To demonstrate the rapid deforestation of the jungle, NASA compared two images taken in 2000 and in 2024 using a Moderate Resolution satellite, one of the main Earth observation objects used by experts to census change on Earth.

On March 27, 2000, the first image shows most of the Mayan jungle forested. In the second, taken on February 11, 2024, the change in the ground can be seen.

“Forest losses are evident even in protected areas, such as the Mayan Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala,” NASA added.

In 1990, the Mayan Biosphere Reserve was created, a portion of the Mayan jungle greater than 21,000 square kilometers, that is, one fifth of Guatemala’s land surface.

The reserve contains four national parks, various wildlife refuges and other areas of various uses granted by the government of Guatemala to communities and companies that are committed to maintaining the jungle.

Despite that, the Laguna del Tigre and Sierra del Lacandona national parks, with strict land use rules, showed the fastest rates of forest loss compared not only to other portions of the reserve but also to Latin America.

“Signs of forest disturbance began to appear near roads built for exploratory oil and gas drilling projects,” NASA noted.

“With the establishment of roads, land speculators, timber and mining prospectors, and other actors in illicit activities soon appeared,” he added.

Deforestation that slows down

The environmental organization WWF, based in Guatemala, counted more than 20 ecosystems distributed in the Mayan Junglefrom the Petén to the dry jungles of the Yucatán Peninsula, in Mexico.

In addition, approximately half a million people of ethnic and cultural diversity live around the protected areas, and depend on the natural resources of the jungle.

In the area there are also highly endangered species such as the scarlet macaw and the jaguar, and endemic species such as the white turtle, the temazate and the black howler monkey.

However, since 2009, several communities in the area, including some that are part of the Association of Forest Communities of Petén (ACOFOP), have joined together in community reforestation projects that have worked, according to NASA, because despite the forest loss, since then the loss has slowed down.

“It is inspiring to see what can be achieved in terms of forest resource management when local organizations are empowered with technology,” explained Africa Flores, a research scientist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center who contributed to the community project.

In the last decade, forest loss has been slower, according to NASA reports.

Additionally, since 2024, authorities have closed livestock operations on at least 137,000 hectares within the Mayan reserve and have sought to replant those forests in search of their recovery.

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