In a move hailed as historic by environmentalists and government officials alike, Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize have announced the creation of a sweeping cross-border nature reserve that could transform conservation efforts in Central America. The Great Mayan Jungle Biocultural Corridor, unveiled on August 21, 2025, will stretch across more than 14 million acres (5.7 million hectares) of tropical forest, making it the second-largest protected reserve in the Americas—second only to the Amazon, according to The Independent.
The corridor will encompass vast jungle regions of southern Mexico and the northern territories of Guatemala and Belize, uniting a patchwork of existing protected areas into a single, formidable front against the encroachment of criminal gangs, illegal loggers, ranchers, and miners. Yet, as officials and experts are quick to admit, the challenges ahead are as dense as the forests themselves.
Security is at the heart of the initiative. For years, the remote borderlands of Mexico and Guatemala have been plagued by clandestine airstrips used for drug trafficking, smuggling routes for migrants, and illegal logging operations. Patricia Orantes, Guatemala's Environment Minister, underscored the gravity of the situation: "The first thing is that the security forces begin to have a presence, because the region has been abandoned and left to organized crime. This is not primarily an environmental battle. We’re talking about the Guatemalan state needing to retake control of its territory."
Mexico’s Environment Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, echoed these concerns, noting that all three countries will need to bolster their security presence within the new reserve. "We’re not going to protect the forest ourselves, the security secretary has to help, the army," Bárcena told The Independent.
But, as recent experience in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas shows, simply deploying troops may not be enough. Organized crime has woven itself into the fabric of economically struggling communities, making it difficult to root out illicit activities. Guatemalan lawyer and environmental activist Rafael Maldonado argued that the key lies in transforming these communities from reluctant participants in illegal trade to allies in conservation. "To convert communities that are believed to participate in drug trafficking into allies of the park," Maldonado said, is essential for long-term success.
Offering viable economic alternatives is a central plank of this strategy. One proposal involves expanding Mexico’s “Planting Life” program, which allocates a $2 billion budget to pay landowners for cultivating certain trees for fruit or timber. The program aims to provide a legal, sustainable income to residents who might otherwise turn to illegal activities. However, the initiative has not been without controversy. In 2021, the World Resources Institute found that the program had, in some instances, inadvertently encouraged deforestation in Campeche state. Bárcena insisted that adjustments are being made to better align the program with environmental goals.
Juan Carlos Franco, a sustainability and climate action expert based in southern Mexico, emphasized the need for government accountability. "Security is crucial and requires the government to act as guarantor," Franco explained. Yet, he stressed that true progress can only come through collaboration with civil society and local communities. "Communities oriented toward the biocultural management of the territory can overcome despite the crime, that’s the most revealing message," he said.
The reserve’s creation also signals a firm commitment to avoid environmentally destructive megaprojects, a point that has stirred debate in the region. Notably, Mexico’s Maya Train—a 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) tourist rail line looping around the Yucatan Peninsula—has been a lightning rod for controversy since its inception in late 2023. The train, which does not pass through the newly designated reserve, has drawn criticism from conservationists who worry about its environmental footprint. Belize has even expressed interest in extending the rail line into its own territory, raising further concerns.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo has taken a hard line against such projects within the reserve. He recently declined to renew the contract of a petroleum company that had operated for four decades in the Maya Biosphere reserve, and has ruled out running any extension of the Maya Train through protected areas. "When access is opened in the forest it becomes difficult to control everything that follows," Orantes noted, explaining the rationale behind these decisions.
In Mexico, Bárcena acknowledged that her agency is working to mitigate some of the environmental impacts of the Maya Train, in partnership with companies operated by the Mexican Army, which built and now operates much of the rail line. To safeguard the new reserve, the three governments have agreed to create an oversight council comprising environmental authorities and an Indigenous advisory council. Any proposed projects within the corridor will have to pass muster with both bodies before moving forward.
Skepticism remains among some activists. Pedro Uc, a resident of the Yucatan and outspoken conservationist, questions the government’s commitment to genuine environmental stewardship, especially given that the political party responsible for the Maya Train remains in power. Others, like Franco, prefer to focus on the potential for positive change, advocating for continued pressure on all three governments to honor their commitments.
To ensure that the ambitious vision becomes reality, Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize have formed a joint committee tasked with drafting a detailed roadmap for the reserve over the coming month. This committee will define which institutions are involved, how they will participate, and how the project will be funded. Bárcena estimates that about $6 million will be available to kick-start the initiative.
"We don’t want it to be just anything there, we don’t want it to be an international cooperation agenda, nor a business agenda. We want it to be the Maya forest agenda," Orantes asserted, highlighting the desire for a conservation effort rooted in regional priorities and Indigenous perspectives.
Meanwhile, the challenges of balancing development and conservation were brought into sharp relief just days before the corridor’s announcement. On August 19, 2025, a car of the Maya Train derailed in Izamal, Yucatan state, after an automated switch tripped while the train was passing, according to the Associated Press. Although no injuries were reported, the incident left one train car off the track and leaning onto another, underscoring ongoing safety and operational concerns with large infrastructure projects in the region.
As the Great Mayan Jungle Biocultural Corridor takes its first steps from vision to reality, its success will depend on the ability of governments, communities, and conservationists to collaborate, innovate, and persist. The stakes—ecological, cultural, and economic—could hardly be higher in this corner of the Americas.