Laguna del Tigre National Park is located in northern
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
, in the municipality of San Andrés,
Petén Department
Petén is a department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population at the mid-2018 o ...
. Covering an area of 337,899 ha, makes it the largest core zone of the
Maya Biosphere Reserve
The Maya Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de la Biosfera Maya) is a nature reserve in Guatemala managed by Guatemala's National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP). The Maya Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 21,602 km², one-fifth of the c ...
(MBR) and the largest national park in Guatemala and the largest protected wetlands in Central America.
It also has the status of
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
Montreux Register of threatened wetland sites. This biodiverse area features consisting of floodable savannas and wetlands; transition forest (which covers most of the park); high forest; and flora.
Threats
Analysis of
aerial images
TerraServer was a commercial website specializing in aerial and satellite imagery which was originally launched in 1997. It is owned and operated by TerraServer.com, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company was previously named Aerial Ima ...
in 2020, found evidence of large-scale cattle ranching in 87% of the images. Large ranches were encouraged by the government in the 1960s, and from circa 2002, narcos laundered cash by buying land and cattle, and selling the meat for money that cannot be traced to drug activity. Campesinos (small-scale farmers) have smaller plots and tend to grow food crops as well as pasture, whereas
drug trafficker
The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...
s clear dozens of hectares which are rectangular, have long straight lines and tractor tyre marks may be seen.