What’s Causing Deforestation in Belize’s Selva Maya Rainforest?

Mesoamerica’s largest tropical rainforest, the Selva Maya, is rapidly disappearing. Stretching across 150,000 square kilometres of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, this vital ecosystem is home to diverse wildlife and ancient ruins—but decades of deforestation are threatening its future. Satellite data reveals that large parts of the forest have been cleared in recent decades, with Guatemala’s Petén region experiencing a loss of 23% of its forest cover between 2001 and 2023, and 33% in Petén alone.

As cattle ranching and palm oil plantations expand, experts fear this once-thriving rainforest could vanish unless urgent action is taken. “The spread of cattle ranching has been the major driver of deforestation in Guatemala,” said Diego Incer, a remote sensing expert. Additionally, the rise of palm oil plantations has contributed to the loss, as land dedicated to oil palms surged from 30 square kilometres in 2001 to 860 square kilometres in 2017.

“According to forest cover loss data collected by Landsat satellites and processed by the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory at the University of Maryland, Belize lost 3,020 square kilometres (1,170 square miles) of forest cover between 2001 and 2023, a 17 percent decrease.”

Earth Observatory reported that Belize-born Emil Cherrington, a NASA scientist, explains that much of the deforestation is driven by farmers clearing land for crops and livestock. However, the article added that forests may have also degraded due to other factors—such as fires, insect infestations, or hurricanes—can also appear as forest cover loss, especially in protected areas like the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, said Santos Chicas, a Belizean remote sensing scientist based at Kyushu University who has studied Belize’s susceptibility to wildfires.

Although deforestation rates have slowed in recent years, from 100 square kilometres per year between 1980 and 2010 to about 80 square kilometres per year, experts, including Edgar Correa from the Belize Forest Department, stress that the rate needs to decrease further to meet international climate goals by 2030.

Efforts to monitor forest loss are underway, with NASA’s SERVIR program helping Belize improve its monitoring tools. Cherrington noted that protected areas in Belize have been effective at reducing deforestation, although illegal farming continues along the border with Guatemala.

Cherrington added, “But this is a country where I see deep interest across a broad spectrum of society and government in tapping into remote sensing data and keeping forests intact.”