MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve has been invaded over the past year by people trying to establish a permanent settlement, and officials are racing to remove them before more of the forest is destroyed. Around 450 people have crossed into the reserve in the southern state of Campeche, clearing the forest for agriculture and cattle ranching. It’s the first time that the reserve, only recently federally recognized, has felt human pressure in its core conservation zone. “If the invaders plant to settle, we will likely see deforestation, and the clearing of land for crops. They may also hunt and enter the forest for subsistence,” Alejandro Hernández Sánchez, an ecologist at ECOSUR, a public scientific research center, told Mongabay. The reserve covers 409,200 hectares (1 million acres) of dry tropical forest and borders Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The two reserves also border other protected areas in Guatemala, which in turn connect with protected areas in Belize, creating one of the largest contiguous protected areas in Mesoamerica. Balam Kú was first established as a state reserve in 2003 and then federally recognized in 2023. In addition to Maya archaeological sites, Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve protects important animal species like Geoffroy’s spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) and the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), as well as tree species like the granadillo (Platymiscium yucatanum), cedar (Cedrela odorata) and mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). Many of the tree species are targeted for illegal logging and trade. In March, around 60 families organized into two groups appeared in the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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