Without USAID, Guatemala’s Maya reserve must support itself
USAID cuts threaten decades of forest conservation in Guatemala, forcing communities to find new ways to fund their work and protect the forest The post Without USAID, Guatemala’s Maya reserve must support itself appeared first on Dialogue Earth .
The Maya biosphere reserve in northern Guatemala has long been a success story in conservation, with community concessions like Carmelita managing nearly 55,000 hectares of forest product sustainably. However, the future of these community concessions is now uncertain due to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) freezing nearly all international support in February 2025.
USAID has been a crucial ally in financing forestry equipment, timber mills, and technical assistance for mitigating wildfires within the reserve. With peak fire season approaching, the lack of international aid leaves the community concessions increasingly vulnerable to the growing threat of forest fires, which have burned an average of 27,000 hectares of protected land in Guatemala annually, with El Niño years exacerbating the situation.
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