COMMISSIONS: The Curse of Palm Oil in Guatemala: 14-20180213palm0057

IZABAL, GUATEMALA. Februrary 13, 2018 – A boat driver waits for passengeres to cross Lake izabel. Indigenous Maya Q'eqchi communities such as Chapin Abajo along Lake Izabal in eastern Guatemala, have no state presence. Only a palm oil company provides jobs and health services. In the last 20 years, palm oil plantations in the region replaced former cattle ranches but it has exacerbated the struggle for land rights in the Polochic Valley. Guatemala has the second-largest rainforest cover in Latin America, after Brazil. The country lost an average of 68,000 hectares a year between 2005 and 2010 (3.72% per year). The rate of deforestation has almost tripled in a decade due to government regulations that incentivize productive lands over natural areas and promote subsidized development.

IZABAL, GUATEMALA. Februrary 13, 2018 – A boat driver waits for passengeres to cross Lake izabel. Indigenous Maya Q'eqchi communities such as Chapin Abajo along Lake Izabal in eastern Guatemala, have no state presence. Only a palm oil company provides jobs and health services. In the last 20 years, palm oil plantations in the region replaced former cattle ranches but it has exacerbated the struggle for land rights in the Polochic Valley.  

Guatemala has the second-largest rainforest cover in Latin America, after Brazil. The country lost an average of 68,000 hectares a year between 2005 and 2010 (3.72% per year). The rate of deforestation has almost tripled in a decade due to government regulations that incentivize productive lands over natural areas and promote subsidized development.