Organized crime puts unprecedented pressure on Guatemala's largest rainforest

[Judi Lynn]

by Maxwell Radwin on 20 May 2024

• The Maya Biosphere Reserve, stretching 2.2 million hectares (5.3 million acres) across northern Guatemala, has seen a wave of land invasions this year in areas that have historically not faced threats of colonization, like Naachtún-Dos Lagunas Biotope and Mirador-Rio Azul National Park.
  
  
• Those arrested for the incursions are often more heavily armed than in the past, something that the unarmed park guards can’t always handle on their own.
  
  
• Observers say criminal groups want to take advantage of the government’s broad support for agrarian reform to gain access to the land, which can be used to launder money on cattle ranches and move drugs across the Mexican border.

Criminal groups have made a renewed push into one of Guatemala’s largest rainforests this year. As new trails open up and fires spread, officials have raised concern not just about deforestation but potentially losing control of the area altogether.

The Maya Biosphere Reserve, stretching 2.2 million hectares (5.3 million acres) across northern Guatemala’s Petén department, has seen a wave of land invasions in areas that have historically gone untouched. Many of the invaders are well-armed and have the backing of organized crime, experts say.

“The lack of governance in the protected areas of Petén has caused the usurpation of lands, deforestation and the establishment of illegal livestock farming, which become high-risk areas and sources of imminent forest fires,” more than a dozen environmental NGOs said in a statement.

The reserve is made up of dozens of national parks, biological corridors and land concessions, each with their own unique conservation challenges. This year, authorities have made arrests in areas that have long struggled with incursions, such as Laguna del Tigre National Park and Sierra del Lacandón National Park. But they’ve also made surprising arrests in areas that usually see fewer threats, like Naachtún-Dos Lagunas Biotope and Mirador-Río Azul National Park.

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In a statement, the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) said the reserve was under threat from encroachments, forest fires, logging and illegal wildlife trafficking from “unscrupulous people who are being managed by sectors interested in generating a crisis of ungovernability.”

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/organized-crime-puts-unprecedented-pressure-on-guatemalas-largest-rainforest/