Guatemala is located in Central America within the Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot. Bordered by Mexico and Belize to the north and Honduras and El Salvador to the south, Guatemala stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, covering an area just under half the size of Britain.

Divided into the lowland north and volcanic mountainous south, Guatemala has a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems and habitats, with a varied climate. Dense tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests cover much of the Yucatán Peninsula and Caribbean lowlands with vast wetlands and lagoons in the east, while in the south premontane mixed pine-oak forests, montane mixed forest and arid thornscrub give way to dry forest and mangroves along the Pacific Coast.

Of the 698 bird species recorded in Guatemala, 19 are globally threatened, including the Yellow-naped Amazon (Critically Endangered) and Horned Guan (Endangered). The 192 species of mammals include the Yucatán Black Howler Monkey, Baird’s Tapir (Endangered), West Indian Manatee (Vulnerable) and some of the world’s richest bat biodiversity, with 104 species including the endemic Myotis cobanensis known only from two specimens. Guatemala is also home to 275 species of reptiles and 163 amphibian species, including the threatened Sanderson’s Streamfrog and Perkins’ Treefrog (Endangered).

High rates of deforestation since the 1980s, driven by rapid population growth and expanding agro-industries, is the biggest threat to Guatemala’s terrestrial biodiversity. Intensive cattle farming—often linked with drug trafficking—along with monoculture plantations such as oil palm and sugar cane, compete with open-cast mines for land, illegally clearing forest while forcing small indigenous slash-and-burn subsistence farmers, the majority living in poverty with no alternative livelihoods, to relocate further into the forest. To prevent the continued loss of Guatemala’s rich biodiversity, WLT has been supporting the conservation work of our partner, FUNDAECO, since 2008.