Guatemala Opts Out of Oil Extraction in Favor of Protecting Jaguars and Macaws in Mayan Biosphere

Guatemala has opted out of renewing a lease agreement on a 7,000-acre oil field in order to use the land for better protection of the surrounding Laguna del Tigre Biosphere Reserve.

An 830,000-acre component of the greater Mayan Biosphere Reserve which allows Mesoamerican wildlife to roam freely between the country and neighboring Belize and Mexico, it’s one of the world’s most important protected areas.

As such, the presence of an oil field inside its borders was controversial, even as the revenues provided critical GDP growth for the developing country. Now, a combination of pollution from the oil operations, sustained low oil prices, and illegal activities within the biosphere has led the government to determine that it is no longer profitable, and chose not to renew the extraction agreement with the Anglo-French developer Perenco.