A Remote Sensing Damage Analysis of the Chiquibul Forest Impacted by the 2020 Forest Fires

As much as twenty-two point two thousand acres of forests were affected by fires in three protected areas: Vaca Forest Reserve, Caracol Archaeological Reserve and the Chiquibul National Park this year.  The F.C.D. carried out an analysis and found out that the extent of the fires set a record.  The most affected area includes the Sapote and Caballo areas of the Chiquibul National Park and the Caracol Archaeological Reserve.  Most of the high fire severity in the Chiquibul is around land that had illegally been used for agriculture by Guatemalan farmers. According to the F.C.D., these agricultural lands are spread along the Belize/Guatemalan border. Fire scars in the Chiquibul Forest reveal that some three point two acres were impacted in the Caracol Archaeological Reserve and another four point nine acres in the Chiquibul National Park. The F.C.D. also found that the losses on biodiversity are difficult to quantify, but species of plants, trees and wild animals were heavily impacted. A survey conducted on thirteen farmers in the Vaca region shows that losses on crops, pastures and fences went over one hundred thousand dollars. The F.C.D. study conducted is titled, “A Remote Sensing Damage Analysis of the Chiquibul Forest Impacted by the 2020 Forest Fires.”