Guatemala, Mexico and Belize plan to protect 14 mn acres of Mayan forest

Guatemala: Mexico, Guatemala and Belize have announced plans to create a huge reserve of tropical forest spanning across the three countries.

Pushing out criminal gangs and protecting the land from ranchers, miners and loggers won’t be easy.

The nature reserve, announced last week and called the Great Mayan Jungle Biocultural Corridor, would stretch across jungle areas of southern Mexico and northern parts of the two Central American nations, encompassing more than 14 million acres.

It would become the second largest reserve in the Americas, behind only the Amazon.

In interviews this week, the environment ministers of Mexico and Guatemala emphasised the need for

security, while also expressing the intention of administrations in both countries to avoid destructive

projects in the area.

“The first thing is that the security forces begin to have a presence,” because the region has been abandoned and left to organised crime, Guatemala Environment Minister Patricia Orantes said. “This is not primarily an environmental battle. We’re talking about the Guatemalan state needing to retake control of its territory.”

Environmental groups have long said that the jungle on both sides of the Mexico-Guatemala border is dotted with clandestine landing strips for cocaine-laden planes, smugglers moving migrants north and illegal loggers.

Mexico Environment Secretary Alicia Barcena said that all three countries will need to boost their security presence in the reserve.

“We’re not going to protect the forest ourselves, the security secretary has to help, the army,” Barcena said. agencies