ID: 1264

Maya Forest: Buy an Acre project in Belize

The Belize Maya Forest is a truly landmark project that has arrived at a pivotal time for the planet. Led by The Nature Conservancy with aid from Word Land Trust, this project shows how collective action can make a real difference against the interlinked extinction and climate crises. It also builds upon World Land Trust’s vision for the natural world that saw the light right here, in Belize, over 30 years ago. Their first ever project, the Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area, will now sit adjacent to the Belize Maya Forest, and together they will now protect 9% of Belize’s entire landmass. The Belize Maya Forest has been established through the purchase of two properties totalling 105,218 hectares, bringing permanent protection to the largest intact forest area remaining in Belize set to be managed by the newly established Belize Maya Forest Trust. Buy an Acre supporters will be funding a 512 hectare portion of the project area. All in all, the newly protected land now safeguards a critical gap within the Selva Maya, the northernmost contiguous intact tropical forest in the Western Hemisphere. In addition, around half of the project area sits within the Rio Bravo CMA Gallon Jug Estate Key Biodiversity Area. Alongside safeguarding an extraordinary array of wildlife, the Belize Maya Forest will also deliver natural solutions to the damaging effects of climate change. In the coming years, the project will preserve significant amounts of sequestered carbon that would otherwise be lost due to deforestation, while allowing for the natural regeneration of forest areas that have been subjected to selective timber extraction over the last decade. Put together, the contribution of the project is estimated at an aggregate value of 13 million metric carbon tonnes over its lifetime.

Planned actions

Protection of land/water

Management of land/water