“Mexico, Guatemala and Belize to create tri-national nature reserve to protect Mayan jungle” August 14, 2025
The leaders of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize announced on Friday that they were creating a tri-national nature reserve to protect the Mayan rain forest following a meeting during which they also discussed expanding a Mexican train line criticized for slicing through jungle habitat.
The nature reserve would stretch across jungled areas of southern Mexico and northern parts of the two Central American nations, encompassing more than 14 million acres (5.7 million hectares). Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the move “historic” and said it would create the second biggest nature reserve in Latin America, behind the Amazon rain forest.
“This is one of Earth’s lungs, a living space for thousands of species with an invaluable cultural legacy that we should preserve with our eyes on the future,” Sheinbaum said, standing side-by-side with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and Belize Prime Minister Johnny Briceño.
The announcement was met with cautious celebration by environmental groups like Mexico-based Selvame, who have sharply criticized the Mexican government and Sheinbaum’s allies in recent years for environmental destruction wrought by megaprojects like a controversial train line, known as the Maya Train.
The group said in statement that the reserve was a “monumental step for conservation” but that it hoped that the reserve was more than just “symbolic.”
…At the same time, the leaders also discussed a proposal by Mexico to expand the very train line those environmental groups have long fought from southern Mexico to Guatemala and Belize. The thousand-mile train currently runs in a rough loop around Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, and was created with the purpose of connecting Mexico’s popular Caribbean resorts with remote jungle and Mayan archaeological sites in rural areas…
The Guatemalan leader said on Friday he sees the economic potential of the project to the jungle region but remained adamant that the construction should not come with the kind of environmental damage that it inflicted in Mexico…
“Connecting the Maya Train with Guatemala and eventually with Belize is a vision we share,” Arévalo said. But “I’ve made it very clear at all times that the Maya Train will not pass through any protected area.”
He said there would also have to be careful environmental studies and the two presidents looked at an alternative proposal that would have the train loop instead of directly cut through the jungles of Guatemala and Belize…