Laguna del Tigre

Laguna del Tigre National Park was established in 1990 in the north-west of the Guatemalan Petén, next to the Mexican border, and protects some 3,350 km². It forms part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, created that same year, which at some 21,000 km² is the largest block of protected tropical forest in Central America.

Its main value is the freshwater wetland system associated with the San Pedro and Escondido rivers: lagoons, seasonal flooding, flooded savannahs and swamp forest, the most extensive such complex in Central America and designated a Ramsar site in 1990. It is home to Morelet's crocodile, jaguar, tapir, howler monkey and one of the last wild populations of scarlet macaw in northern Central America, the subject of a specific nest protection programme.

It is also one of the most threatened parks on the continent. Agricultural colonisation, extensive cattle ranching linked to drug-trafficking money laundering, fires set to open up pasture and oil extraction within its boundaries have caused severe deforestation: much of its area has lost forest cover since it was declared, and effective state management in the area is very limited.