The Mayan Jungle, which has a coverage of 150,000 square kilometers in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, shows substantial changes, according to a scientific report published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The report, which is based on satellite data, shows large sectors of the Mayan Forest that have been felled in recent decades, and the same situation is presented in the Amazon. Can you see the magnitude of the loss of forest cover in the pair of satellite imagery of the spectroradiometer Moderate Resolution Imaging (MODIS) shared by that US agency. The first image was obtained in 2000; the second image shows the same region in 2024, cites the publication.
The Mayan Forest is considered to be the largest tropical rainforest in Mesoamerica, only surpassed by the Amazon.
Incidence in Petén
The research reports that the loss of tropical forests is accentuated in Petén, a region to the north, west of Belize, and that the satellite reports of the Landsat program, which were analyzed by researchers at the University of Maryland, highlight that Guatemala lost 23 percent of forest coverage in the period 2001-2023, and that Petén reached 33 percent of the detriment.
The document highlights: The expansion of livestock has been the main factor that has driven Guatemala’s deforestation in recent decades, says Diego Incer, a remote sensing specialist at the University of the Valley of Guatemala.
And it is reiterated: is this situation dynamic. We often see that the forests that were initially cut down for livestock then become oil palm plantations.
The publication indicates that the expansion of the oil palm, a source of vegetable oil, has been particularly rapid in Guatemala. He mentions that an analysis of Landsat’s images managed to find as findings that the extension of the land dedicated to the oil palm in this region stunted from about 30 square kilometers in 2001 to 860 square kilometers in 2017, and that much of the new plantations of the crop are located in the southeast of Petén.
Loss in Mayan Biosphere Reserve
The report states that it is clear that damage to forests includes protected areas, such as the Mayan Biosphere Reserve. This reserve covers one fifth of the country’s land area and continues four national parks, which have become wildlife refuges, as well as multi-purpose areas – areas that the central government has granted forest concessions to several communities and businesses for park administration.
On Landsat’s observation map – a NASA satellite program – and the U.S. Geological Service. U.S. (USGS), which monitors the land and provides data on terrestrial resources – collected between 2000 and 2023, confirms the progress of forest loss in the part of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve.
The reference to the loss of forest cover collected by the Landsat satellites was processed by the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery Laboratory.
“It is clear that the damage to forests includes protected areas, such as the Mayan Biosphere Reserve. This reserve covers one fifth of the country’s land area and continues four national parks, which have become wildlife refuges.”
The report adds that when the reserve was established in 1990, inhabitants of multiple-purpose areas were allowed to remain in those places with a commitment to use the forest in a sustainable manner, and several areas of concessions recorded a proliferation of low-impact businesses, such as selective mahogany and other timber; Jamaican pepper harvest, honey production, chili resin and xate palm leaves.
These businesses provided income to residents and an incentive to keep the forest intact, he says.
He stresses that, on the contrary, the two national parks in the western part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, which is the Lagoon of Tigre and Sierra del Lacandona, northeast of Petén, have noticed some of the fastest rates of forest loss in this reserve and in Latin America, despite having the strictest rules of land use.
The disturbance signs of the forest began to appear in satellite images of Laguna del Tigre National Park during its first days, especially near roads built for exploratory gas and oil drilling projects. With the establishment of the roads, land speculators, wood and mining search engines, and other actors of illegal activities soon appeared, the report states.
Other indications
According to Jennifer Devine, a researcher at Texas State University, the group of experts working with images and aerial photographs of Landsat have identified many cattle ranches in that region, with unusual characteristics – such as isolated grasslands, livestock shortages and the presence of clandestine landing runways – suggesting that ranches are used for purposes other than livestock.
His analysis suggests that much of the deforestation of the Tiger Lagoon National Park since 2000 is a by-product of illegal activities, Devine emphasizes.
Reversing trend
It is clarified that, despite these challenges, it is recognized that there are indications that Guatemala’s forests could have a better future. The rate of forest loss has decreased in the last decade, and the total forest area has stabilized in recent years, noted Danger Gómez, who serves as head of Geographic Information Systems of the National Forest Institute (Inab).
It is indicated that this improvement is largely due to the success of Community forestry projects in various concession sectors. In 2009, the competent authorities began with a programme to regain control of certain forest concessions along the Carmelita road, which had been critical areas of deforestation due to – at the time – the invasion of land for reasons related to livestock production.
Institutional posture
Prensa Libre consulted the Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, José Rodrigo Rhodes, about these findings regarding the forest loss. The study of forest cover dynamics 2016-2020 is the most recent, it is found on the website of the Inab and the Ministry of the Environment manages the same information, he said.
Among the causes that would explain a reduction in the Mayan Jungle is the “advance of the agricultural border, extensive livestock, and forest fires, among the main ones.
And finally, about what scenarios there are about the future of the Mayan Jungle, the deputy minister declared that it is intended to restore the governance of the area and update master plans, among others.
Source of issue
Alex Guerra, director general of the Private Institute for Climate Change Research (ICC), said that the satellite images generated by NASA and others worldwide are those that have been used by several institutions. The maps are made on average every five years to determine how much has been lost and how much has been gained from wooded coverage.
These forests are called forest cover dynamics because in some places it is won and in others it is lost, which ends in a rate of deforestation, he explained.
What these maps show us is that Guatemala the most loses forest is Petén and Izabal are the ones that lose the most forest, he stressed.
On the implications of the loss of forest cover in the Mayan Jungle, Guerra mentioned that it is the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions, and for Guatemala the largest source is forest loss, and that is why it insists on the care of these forests to fulfill all commitments.
There is also the loss of biodiversity, such as flora and fauna, and in Petén losing the forest it insists that there is more heat or that it rains less. The land that does not have forest in Petén, the soils are very poor, and at the time there is no forest, it is washes, it is what remains when the soil is lost and the earth loses the ability to produce with lower yields, the technician stressed.
This article was translated after appearing in Prensa Libre