As co-managers of the Chiquibul National Park, FCD has realized that deforestation, along the western flank of the park, namely the Belize-Guatemala adjacency line, has been a persistent issue for the past 30 years. What once was dominated by small-scale slash-and-burn peasant farming has now shifted to intensive and expansive illegal cattle ranching operations (Gentle 2022).
Belizean authorities, and FCD, now fear that these ranches may not only contribute significantly to forest loss but may also be tied to broader networks of financial crime, including land laundering and illicit cross-border trade. The scale and organization of these activities have made them increasingly difficult to address, raising concerns about governance, enforcement capacity, and financial integrity in the region.
Remote sensing analysis of a Sentinel-2 imagery dated November 24, 2024, indicate that approximately 1,666.61 acres (674.45 hectares) are being actively encroached for cattle ranching along the western flank of the Vaca Forest Reserve, and 1,894.36 acres (766.62 ha) in the Chiquibul ecosystem (CE) (Guerra 2025). These activities are often linked to Guatemalan communities near the border, many of whom lack sufficient land for their livestock and are thus expanding inside Belizean protected areas.
The expansion of cattle ranching is often linked to wealthy Guatemalan individuals seeking new pasture lands, given the scarcity of available land on their side of the border while using rural villagers to clear the forest inside Belize (Novelo 2023).
Authorities in both countries have concerns that illegal cattle ranching may be connected to narcotic trafficking, with cleared lands potentially serving as clandestine airstrips, and the increased risks of money laundering (Devine et al. 2020). Under the Cattle Ranching Strategy, outlined efforts to combat cattle ranching in the CE include patrols and collaboration between Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD) and regulatory agencies. Following the strategy, over the past two years, the FCD Rangers engaged on a total of 180 patrols along the Belize-Guatemalan adjacency zone inside the CE which included approximately 1,209 hours of active patrolling and 1,777 km of foot patrols. International cooperation and financial support are essential to enhance monitoring efforts, combat illegal activities and support reforestation initiatives.