Central America Deforestation

In 1986 Tom Sever, NASA's only archaeologist, acquired a satellite image of northern Guatemala to examine it for archaeological sites. As soon as he glanced at the image, Sever "was stunned that he could see the political border between Guatemala and Mexico, because of the deforestation in Mexico,".



Above: The razor-sharp border between Mexico and Guatemala, as seen in this 1988 Landsat image, shows the impact of rural settlements on the rainforest.


The image was so powerful, it was published in National Geographic magazine, and became a catalyst for the president and congress of Guatemala to set up what they call the Mayan Biosphere Reserve—Guatemala's largest protected area.

Bigger picture:


Credit: Science@NASA