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16.07.2025
Environment and socio-economic development in Guatemala
Introduction
The article presents the key elements for determination of the level of socio- economic development of Guatemala and how it is affected by the ecological crisis. It discusses the issues of land use, mining, and soil degradation; defor- estation, water pollution, river sequestration; climate change; and vulnerability to natural phenomena. As well as possible comprehensive solutions to over- come the ecological crisis and strengthen socio-economic development of the country.
Guatemala
Guatemala, a state in Central America that is known for its ancient culture, the cradle of the Mayan civilization, is rich in natural resources and has excep- tional biodiversity and ecosystems varying fr om tropical forests to coasts and volcanoes.
Geographical location, political and administrative division
The area of the country is 108,889 square kilometers. Political and administra- tive structure: 8 regions, 22 departments, and 340 municipalities.
Population
Four major peoples live in Guatemala: Mayans, Xincas, Garifunas and Mesti- zos, the total number of which exceeds 14,901,296 residents, of which 6,207,503 are Mayans, 19,529 — Garifunas, 264,167 — Xincas, and 8,346,120 — Mestizos, 27,647 — Creoles or people of African descent, and 36,320 foreigners. Gender composition of the population: 7,237,582 men and 7,663,314 women. The population growth rate is 2.5 % (INE, 2018).
Expected survival at birth: 74.3 %, average period of study is 6.6 years, per cap- ita income is 8,494, and human capital development index is 0.663. Human cap- ital development index is lower than in Latin American and Caribbean countries wh ere it is 0.766.
61.6 % of the population live in poverty or extreme poverty. They have no access to official jobs, public healthcare, social security, education, and housing.
Geomorphological formation of the territory
60 % of surface of Guatemala is represented by mountainous relief; Sierra Madre crosses the country fr om the West to the East, runs parallel to Pacific Ocean, and extends to Honduras via Cerro Oscuro. Cuchumatanes mountain range extends to the North from the Chixoy, or Negro, river wh ere it gets divided into two parts: Verapaz mountains in the East and Cuchumatanes in the West. It is one of the most volcanically active countries in the world: there are 38 volcanos here. Due to the multiple orographic folds it is subject to constant earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes (MARN, 2009).
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) divides the ter- ritory into seven regions: Pacific plains, volcanic highlands, metamorphic high- lands, Northern limestone plateaus, Northern limestone lowlands, and Northern floodplains. They are divided into 14 land regions, each of which includes various land ecosystems in the country: wet, mountain, and dry forests; pine-oak for- ests, thorny bushes, and mangroves. This is a country with plenty of forests and well-developed forestry industry. Soils are heterogeneous due to the diversity of geological, orographic, and lithic conditions, as well as formation processes: Entisols, Mollisols, Inceptisols, Vertisols, Alfisols, Andisols, Ultisols (MARN, 2009).
Aquatic biodiversity of the country is divided into two fish habitats: Pacific and Caribbean. They consist of four ecoregions sharing 14 watershed ecological units that contain 204 riverine ecosystems and 19 stagnant or lake ecosystems (MARN, 2009).
Hydrography. Mountain systems define three hydrographic slopes: the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean that is divided into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. There are multiple rivers, lakes, and lagoons of volcanic and river origin within the territory.
Biodiversity of the country (0.07 % of the planet’s land area) according to the most common approaches. Terrestrial ecosystems of the country can be grouped into nine biomes (Villar, 1994), 14 Holdridge life zones, and 14 terrestrial ecoregions (Dinerstein, et al., 1995), (MARN, 2009).
Bioregionalization of the continental shelf and coast. Marine space of Guate- mala is divided into two districts: the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the tropical north- western Atlantic Ocean that include marine ecoregions.
Physicochemical components correspond to the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere; biological components correspond to the biosphere, and social ones — to the sociosphere (Gallopin, 1980).
Land use
Land is the main means of production in Guatemala.
Land distribution is uneven: 98 % belong to large estates owning the most fer- tile lands. They belong to 2 % of the population, i. e. oligarchs and bourgeoisie. 2 % of lands are distributed between small landownerships owned by 98 % of the pop- ulation: Maya, Garifuna, Xinca, and poor Ladino (Mestizos).
Large estates are concentrated in the departments of Escuintla, Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez, Izabal, as well as in the Polochic river valley, Alta Verapaz depart- ment. These are fertile lands with high potential for usage; they can be cultivated without physical destruction of the soil1.
Small estates are the small lots of barren land located on hills and slopes that are usually owned or possessed by middle-income and poor peasants. Their prod- ucts are mainly meant for family consumption, as they are insufficient for large- scale commercial activities.
Monoculture, mining, land degradation, and biodiversity
In recent years, monoculture production has increased in large estates. Lands are intensively used for sowing, growing, and harvesting of sugar cane for production of sugar and its derivatives, as well as African palm — for production of oils and fats. Culti- vation of original crops such as corn, black beans, and rice for domestic consumption, sale, and export to Central America has been destroyed in these areas, which forces import of these basic food items for majority of the country’s population and weakens food security and economy of the country. Use of transgenic seeds has expanded.
1 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food.
Intensive exploitation of lands accompanied by excessive use of insecticides and pesticides and deforestation due to excessive logging operations cause deg- radation of soils and their biodiversity, including loss of soil fertility that cannot be recovered in less than 20 years. Deforestation of Guatemala reaches 1 % a year, which is the highest rate in Latin America.
Open-pit mining
There is vast amount of minerals such as nickel, rare earths, jade, gold, tung- sten, manganese, etc. within the territory of Guatemala.
The following mining companies are operating in the country: Goldcorp, a transnational company that operates via Montana gold exploration company and Marlin that mines gold in open-pit in San Marcos; Entre Mares, a mining project in Cerro Blanco, Jutiapa. Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel, S.A — CGN, subsidiary of Solway Investment Group, is involved in mining and sale of nickel.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines approves licenses for exploration, extraction, production, and commercial use of oil, gold, nickel, jade, and other min- erals. It is known that there are rare earth metals that are being mined. Contracts are very burdensome; companies retain 99 % of the product, and the government retains 1 % royalty.
At present, mining leads to incurable diseases, deterioration of living condi- tions, environmental pollution, deforestation, contamination, and drying up of riv- ers, lakes, and lagoons, destruction of biological diversity, as well as disappearance and loss of our natural resources, in other words, it leads to poverty and unhappi- ness for the majority of the country’s population.
Hydrology
In Guatemala there are 38 rivers and their basins distributed between three hydrological basins: Pacific, Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico; 7 lakes, 49 coastal lagoons, 109 lagoons, 3 temporary lagoons, 7 water reservoirs. 14 out of 38 main riv- ers are severely polluted: Villalobos, Paz, Motagua, Suchiate, Naranjo, Salamá, Ican, Coyolate, María Linda rivers are contaminated with plastic, solid waste, wastewa- ter, and industrial waste.
Hydroelectric power plants
There are several hydroelectric power plants in Guatemala: Chixoy, Renace, Jurun Marinalá, and other.
Construction and installation of the plants caused social tensions as the gov- ernment failed to fulfill the condition on preliminary consultations and obtaining of preliminary free and informed consent of the population, which was also the
case for mining projects carried out on the lands of indigenous peoples and mes- tizos. Community lands are being expropriated. Besides, licenses are being issued without compliance with environmental and technical standards as a result of cor- ruption activities of the ministries of environment, energy, and mining.
Electricity production with the use of river resources resulted in their embez- zlement, due to which communities located downstream got deprived of vital moisture, and, in some cases, it caused severe floods. These communities are not getting electricity, as it is transferred to other regions and even abroad.
Solid waste management
Historically, there is no strategy of environmental protection in the country. There are no treatment facilities in large cities; wastewater and solid waste are dumped into rivers and turn into streams of sewage with time. Major rivers flow into lagoons, lakes, and the sea. Lakes Amatitlán and Atitlán, major tourist attrac- tions, are contaminated with solid waste, plastic, etc. The country is lacking waste recycling culture, garbage monitoring system, garbage trucks, waste management and recycling, and landfill construction. The main dump of Guatemala “is among 50 largest dumps in the world and 13 largest dumps in Latin America, its area is 19.3 ha, and it receives 300,000 tons of domestic, commercial, industrial, and sanitary waste annually”.
It was only in early 2025 that the law on environmental protection came into force, and it was for the first time offered to separate organic, recyclable, and non-recyclable waste. There is no state policy to promote development of educational programs in the area of environmental protection, as well as the cul- ture of solid waste recycling and utilization for the purpose of its processing and reuse.
Climate change
Poor communities, especially those residing in the inner regions of the country, are the most vulnerable to consequences of climate change. In recent years, the number of deaths and property destruction has increased due to more frequent natural disasters. Landslides, hill collapses, hurricanes, and trop- ical storms are on the rise; damage fr om the lack of rains increased, in par- ticular, in the Dry Corridor, wh ere the main crops got burned due to lack of water; malnutrition and hunger increased due to loss of crop. Extreme poverty that means, in particular, lack of decent housing, forces significant groups of the population to live in high-risk areas, such as river banks, hilltops, and vol- cano slopes, which exposes them to serious risks, including volcanic eruptions. There is no state policy in the country to prevent and mitigate consequences of such phenomena.
56.6 % of the population in Guatemala live in poverty or extreme poverty; they have no access to legal jobs, public healthcare, and social security, education and housing. At the same time, approximately 15 families represent oligarchy and bour- geoisie that own major means of production.
The state is dependent on the imperial policy of North America, on oligarchy, bourgeoisie, and generals’ junta using political structures in power and govern- ments for their own interests.
Conclusion
Ecological crisis in Guatemala results from existence of the system that still combines pre-capitalist and neoliberal capitalist forms and gives preference to consumer goods production to meet business interests, which pertains both to the nascent and almost non-existent national industry and major transnational corpo- rations continuously settling in the country without following a legal system that would provide for eco-friendly production and consumption.
The goal of such entrepreneurs is to gain enormous profits at any cost.
The society is historically divided into social classes; it is a deeply classist and racist society, in which suffering, exploitation, oppression, ethnic and cultural dis- crimination, and alienation become more acute day by day.
According to the worldview of the Mayan ancestors, man is in unity, in a vital union with Mother Nature. One should focus on this view and be guided by it in the management process.
However, there is no willingness to develop a state policy to promote socio- economic growth in order to meet vital human needs that would be based on development of the environment and technologies and support of national indus- try, energy conservation, environmental protection, clean energy, solid waste recycling, wastewater treatment, and water conservation. Goods production and consumption should be based on protection and priority of human life.
The way out of the crisis must be comprehensive, with participation of a strong state and with use of a strategy of sustainable state development. Socio-economic, ecological, and nature conservation crisis faced by the country can be overcome through implementation of the Peace Agreements — the only state program that exists in the country. Guatemala shall fit itself into the economic pole of the global South. It shall become a part of new platform for global growth based on the fun- damental principles of BRICS: consensus, fairness, and openness for the sake of wellbeing of mankind.
Towards comprehensive solutions
1. To provide material conditions for life support, growth, and socio-economic development of the overwhelming majority of the population by way of estab-
lishment of an economic model that is alternative to neoliberalism in view of the local specifics.
2. To support improved ecological awareness at all levels through state educa- tional policy.
3. To support creation of new laws on environmental protection and ecology; to strengthen and enforce existing laws.
4. Communities shall recover and ensure sustainable management of the forests, as they are the main element of terrestrial ecosystem that is the guarantee of human existence and development.
5. To support recycling and industrialization of solid waste in order to make it a source of income for the country.
6. To protect aquifers and ensure that water is suitable for human consumption.
7. International cooperation: establishment of allied and twinning liaisons between countries in order to ensure financing of programs, plans, and proj- ects in the area of clean, renewable, and sustainable energy.
The article presents the key elements for determination of the level of socio- economic development of Guatemala and how it is affected by the ecological crisis. It discusses the issues of land use, mining, and soil degradation; defor- estation, water pollution, river sequestration; climate change; and vulnerability to natural phenomena. As well as possible comprehensive solutions to over- come the ecological crisis and strengthen socio-economic development of the country.
Guatemala
Guatemala, a state in Central America that is known for its ancient culture, the cradle of the Mayan civilization, is rich in natural resources and has excep- tional biodiversity and ecosystems varying fr om tropical forests to coasts and volcanoes.
Geographical location, political and administrative division
The area of the country is 108,889 square kilometers. Political and administra- tive structure: 8 regions, 22 departments, and 340 municipalities.
Population
Four major peoples live in Guatemala: Mayans, Xincas, Garifunas and Mesti- zos, the total number of which exceeds 14,901,296 residents, of which 6,207,503 are Mayans, 19,529 — Garifunas, 264,167 — Xincas, and 8,346,120 — Mestizos, 27,647 — Creoles or people of African descent, and 36,320 foreigners. Gender composition of the population: 7,237,582 men and 7,663,314 women. The population growth rate is 2.5 % (INE, 2018).
Expected survival at birth: 74.3 %, average period of study is 6.6 years, per cap- ita income is 8,494, and human capital development index is 0.663. Human cap- ital development index is lower than in Latin American and Caribbean countries wh ere it is 0.766.
61.6 % of the population live in poverty or extreme poverty. They have no access to official jobs, public healthcare, social security, education, and housing.
Geomorphological formation of the territory
60 % of surface of Guatemala is represented by mountainous relief; Sierra Madre crosses the country fr om the West to the East, runs parallel to Pacific Ocean, and extends to Honduras via Cerro Oscuro. Cuchumatanes mountain range extends to the North from the Chixoy, or Negro, river wh ere it gets divided into two parts: Verapaz mountains in the East and Cuchumatanes in the West. It is one of the most volcanically active countries in the world: there are 38 volcanos here. Due to the multiple orographic folds it is subject to constant earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes (MARN, 2009).
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) divides the ter- ritory into seven regions: Pacific plains, volcanic highlands, metamorphic high- lands, Northern limestone plateaus, Northern limestone lowlands, and Northern floodplains. They are divided into 14 land regions, each of which includes various land ecosystems in the country: wet, mountain, and dry forests; pine-oak for- ests, thorny bushes, and mangroves. This is a country with plenty of forests and well-developed forestry industry. Soils are heterogeneous due to the diversity of geological, orographic, and lithic conditions, as well as formation processes: Entisols, Mollisols, Inceptisols, Vertisols, Alfisols, Andisols, Ultisols (MARN, 2009).
Aquatic biodiversity of the country is divided into two fish habitats: Pacific and Caribbean. They consist of four ecoregions sharing 14 watershed ecological units that contain 204 riverine ecosystems and 19 stagnant or lake ecosystems (MARN, 2009).
Hydrography. Mountain systems define three hydrographic slopes: the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean that is divided into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. There are multiple rivers, lakes, and lagoons of volcanic and river origin within the territory.
Biodiversity of the country (0.07 % of the planet’s land area) according to the most common approaches. Terrestrial ecosystems of the country can be grouped into nine biomes (Villar, 1994), 14 Holdridge life zones, and 14 terrestrial ecoregions (Dinerstein, et al., 1995), (MARN, 2009).
Bioregionalization of the continental shelf and coast. Marine space of Guate- mala is divided into two districts: the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the tropical north- western Atlantic Ocean that include marine ecoregions.
Physicochemical components correspond to the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere; biological components correspond to the biosphere, and social ones — to the sociosphere (Gallopin, 1980).
Land use
Land is the main means of production in Guatemala.
Land distribution is uneven: 98 % belong to large estates owning the most fer- tile lands. They belong to 2 % of the population, i. e. oligarchs and bourgeoisie. 2 % of lands are distributed between small landownerships owned by 98 % of the pop- ulation: Maya, Garifuna, Xinca, and poor Ladino (Mestizos).
Large estates are concentrated in the departments of Escuintla, Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez, Izabal, as well as in the Polochic river valley, Alta Verapaz depart- ment. These are fertile lands with high potential for usage; they can be cultivated without physical destruction of the soil1.
Small estates are the small lots of barren land located on hills and slopes that are usually owned or possessed by middle-income and poor peasants. Their prod- ucts are mainly meant for family consumption, as they are insufficient for large- scale commercial activities.
Monoculture, mining, land degradation, and biodiversity
In recent years, monoculture production has increased in large estates. Lands are intensively used for sowing, growing, and harvesting of sugar cane for production of sugar and its derivatives, as well as African palm — for production of oils and fats. Culti- vation of original crops such as corn, black beans, and rice for domestic consumption, sale, and export to Central America has been destroyed in these areas, which forces import of these basic food items for majority of the country’s population and weakens food security and economy of the country. Use of transgenic seeds has expanded.
1 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food.
Intensive exploitation of lands accompanied by excessive use of insecticides and pesticides and deforestation due to excessive logging operations cause deg- radation of soils and their biodiversity, including loss of soil fertility that cannot be recovered in less than 20 years. Deforestation of Guatemala reaches 1 % a year, which is the highest rate in Latin America.
Open-pit mining
There is vast amount of minerals such as nickel, rare earths, jade, gold, tung- sten, manganese, etc. within the territory of Guatemala.
The following mining companies are operating in the country: Goldcorp, a transnational company that operates via Montana gold exploration company and Marlin that mines gold in open-pit in San Marcos; Entre Mares, a mining project in Cerro Blanco, Jutiapa. Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel, S.A — CGN, subsidiary of Solway Investment Group, is involved in mining and sale of nickel.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines approves licenses for exploration, extraction, production, and commercial use of oil, gold, nickel, jade, and other min- erals. It is known that there are rare earth metals that are being mined. Contracts are very burdensome; companies retain 99 % of the product, and the government retains 1 % royalty.
At present, mining leads to incurable diseases, deterioration of living condi- tions, environmental pollution, deforestation, contamination, and drying up of riv- ers, lakes, and lagoons, destruction of biological diversity, as well as disappearance and loss of our natural resources, in other words, it leads to poverty and unhappi- ness for the majority of the country’s population.
Hydrology
In Guatemala there are 38 rivers and their basins distributed between three hydrological basins: Pacific, Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico; 7 lakes, 49 coastal lagoons, 109 lagoons, 3 temporary lagoons, 7 water reservoirs. 14 out of 38 main riv- ers are severely polluted: Villalobos, Paz, Motagua, Suchiate, Naranjo, Salamá, Ican, Coyolate, María Linda rivers are contaminated with plastic, solid waste, wastewa- ter, and industrial waste.
Hydroelectric power plants
There are several hydroelectric power plants in Guatemala: Chixoy, Renace, Jurun Marinalá, and other.
Construction and installation of the plants caused social tensions as the gov- ernment failed to fulfill the condition on preliminary consultations and obtaining of preliminary free and informed consent of the population, which was also the
case for mining projects carried out on the lands of indigenous peoples and mes- tizos. Community lands are being expropriated. Besides, licenses are being issued without compliance with environmental and technical standards as a result of cor- ruption activities of the ministries of environment, energy, and mining.
Electricity production with the use of river resources resulted in their embez- zlement, due to which communities located downstream got deprived of vital moisture, and, in some cases, it caused severe floods. These communities are not getting electricity, as it is transferred to other regions and even abroad.
Solid waste management
Historically, there is no strategy of environmental protection in the country. There are no treatment facilities in large cities; wastewater and solid waste are dumped into rivers and turn into streams of sewage with time. Major rivers flow into lagoons, lakes, and the sea. Lakes Amatitlán and Atitlán, major tourist attrac- tions, are contaminated with solid waste, plastic, etc. The country is lacking waste recycling culture, garbage monitoring system, garbage trucks, waste management and recycling, and landfill construction. The main dump of Guatemala “is among 50 largest dumps in the world and 13 largest dumps in Latin America, its area is 19.3 ha, and it receives 300,000 tons of domestic, commercial, industrial, and sanitary waste annually”.
It was only in early 2025 that the law on environmental protection came into force, and it was for the first time offered to separate organic, recyclable, and non-recyclable waste. There is no state policy to promote development of educational programs in the area of environmental protection, as well as the cul- ture of solid waste recycling and utilization for the purpose of its processing and reuse.
Climate change
Poor communities, especially those residing in the inner regions of the country, are the most vulnerable to consequences of climate change. In recent years, the number of deaths and property destruction has increased due to more frequent natural disasters. Landslides, hill collapses, hurricanes, and trop- ical storms are on the rise; damage fr om the lack of rains increased, in par- ticular, in the Dry Corridor, wh ere the main crops got burned due to lack of water; malnutrition and hunger increased due to loss of crop. Extreme poverty that means, in particular, lack of decent housing, forces significant groups of the population to live in high-risk areas, such as river banks, hilltops, and vol- cano slopes, which exposes them to serious risks, including volcanic eruptions. There is no state policy in the country to prevent and mitigate consequences of such phenomena.
56.6 % of the population in Guatemala live in poverty or extreme poverty; they have no access to legal jobs, public healthcare, and social security, education and housing. At the same time, approximately 15 families represent oligarchy and bour- geoisie that own major means of production.
The state is dependent on the imperial policy of North America, on oligarchy, bourgeoisie, and generals’ junta using political structures in power and govern- ments for their own interests.
Conclusion
Ecological crisis in Guatemala results from existence of the system that still combines pre-capitalist and neoliberal capitalist forms and gives preference to consumer goods production to meet business interests, which pertains both to the nascent and almost non-existent national industry and major transnational corpo- rations continuously settling in the country without following a legal system that would provide for eco-friendly production and consumption.
The goal of such entrepreneurs is to gain enormous profits at any cost.
The society is historically divided into social classes; it is a deeply classist and racist society, in which suffering, exploitation, oppression, ethnic and cultural dis- crimination, and alienation become more acute day by day.
According to the worldview of the Mayan ancestors, man is in unity, in a vital union with Mother Nature. One should focus on this view and be guided by it in the management process.
However, there is no willingness to develop a state policy to promote socio- economic growth in order to meet vital human needs that would be based on development of the environment and technologies and support of national indus- try, energy conservation, environmental protection, clean energy, solid waste recycling, wastewater treatment, and water conservation. Goods production and consumption should be based on protection and priority of human life.
The way out of the crisis must be comprehensive, with participation of a strong state and with use of a strategy of sustainable state development. Socio-economic, ecological, and nature conservation crisis faced by the country can be overcome through implementation of the Peace Agreements — the only state program that exists in the country. Guatemala shall fit itself into the economic pole of the global South. It shall become a part of new platform for global growth based on the fun- damental principles of BRICS: consensus, fairness, and openness for the sake of wellbeing of mankind.
Towards comprehensive solutions
1. To provide material conditions for life support, growth, and socio-economic development of the overwhelming majority of the population by way of estab-
lishment of an economic model that is alternative to neoliberalism in view of the local specifics.
2. To support improved ecological awareness at all levels through state educa- tional policy.
3. To support creation of new laws on environmental protection and ecology; to strengthen and enforce existing laws.
4. Communities shall recover and ensure sustainable management of the forests, as they are the main element of terrestrial ecosystem that is the guarantee of human existence and development.
5. To support recycling and industrialization of solid waste in order to make it a source of income for the country.
6. To protect aquifers and ensure that water is suitable for human consumption.
7. International cooperation: establishment of allied and twinning liaisons between countries in order to ensure financing of programs, plans, and proj- ects in the area of clean, renewable, and sustainable energy.
INTRODUCCIÓN
En la presente investigación, a manera de ensayo, se presentan elementos fundamentales para establecer el grado de desarrollo socioeconómico en Guatemala y cómo afecta a éste, la crisis del medio ambiente. Se desarrolla los temas del uso de la tierra, la minería extractiva y la degradación del suelo; la deforestación, la contaminación hídrica, el secuestro de ríos; el cambio climático; la vulnerabilidad ante los fenómenos naturales. Finalmente, las posibles soluciones integrales para superar la crisis del medio ambiente y fortalecer el desarrollo socioeconómico del país.
GUATEMALA
Guatemala, un país ubicado en el Centro de América; reconocido por su cultura milenaria, cuna de la civilización Maya; que posee una riqueza patrimonial de bienes naturales y biodiversidad extraordinaria. Con ecosistemas que van desde selvas tropicales hasta costas y volcanes.
Ubicación geográfica, división política y administrativa
El territorio del país, mide 108, 889 kilómetros cuadrados, con una división política y administrativa distribuida en 8 regiones, 22 departamentos y 340 municipios
Habitantes
En Guatemala habitan cuatro grandes pueblos: mayas, xincas, garífunas y mestizos haciendo un total de más de 14, 901,296 habitantes, de los cuales 6, 207,503 son mayas 19,529 garífunas, 264,167 xincas 8, 346,120 mestizos, 27,647 creoles o afrodescendientes y 36,320 extranjeros. La población por género: 7, 237,582 hombres, 7, 663, 314 mujeres. La tasa de crecimiento de la población es del 2.5% (INE, 2018).
La esperanza de vida al nacer: 74.3%, promedio de escolaridad 6.6, el ingreso per cápita 8.494 y El Índice de Desarrollo Humano IDH 0.663. El IDH es inferior a los países de América Latina y el Caribe que es de 0.766.
El 61.6% de la población vive en pobreza y pobreza extrema; no tienen acceso al trabajo formal, a la salud y seguridad social, educación, vivienda.
La formación geomorfológica del territorio
Guatemala tiene un relieve montañoso de 60% de su superficie; la Sierra Madre atraviesa el país de Oeste a Este, corre paralela al Océano Pacifico y se prolonga hacia Honduras por el cerro Oscuro. La sierra de los Cuchumatanes, se extiende hacia el Norte del río Chixoy o Negro, en donde se divide en dos: las montañas Verapaz al Este y los Cuchumatanes al Oeste. Es uno de los países más volcánicos del mundo; cuenta con 38 volcanes. Debido a los múltiples plegamientos orográficos, Guatemala está sometida a constantes sismos, erupciones volcánicos y terremotos (MARN, 2009).
El Ministerio de Ambiente y Recursos Naturales –MARN- ha dividido el territorio en siete regiones: las llanuras del pacífico, Altas volcánicas, Metamórficas, calizas altas del norte, calizas bajas del norte y llanuras de inundación del norte; se dividen en 14 regiones terrestres y cada una de ellas en diversos ecosistemas terrestres en todo el país, se cuenta con bosques húmedos, montanos y secos; bosques de pino-encino, arbustal espinoso, y manglares. Es un país altamente boscoso, con vocación forestal. Los suelos son heterogéneos, dada la diversidad de las condiciones geológicas, orográficas, líticas y de los procesos formadores: Entisoles, molisoles, inceptisoles, vertisoles, alfisoles andisoles, ultisoles (MARN, 2009)
La biodiversidad acuática, en el país, ubica dos provincias ícticas: la vertiente del Pacífico y la caribeña que se divide en cuatro ecorregiones que dividen 14 unidades ecológicas de drenaje, las cuales contienen 204 sistemas ecológicos fluviales y 19 sistemas ecológicos lenticos o lacustres (MARN, 2009).
La hidrografía. Los sistemas montañosos determinan tres vertientes hidrográficas: la del Océano Pacífico, la del Atlántico que se subdivide en: la del Caribe y la del Golfo de México. El territorio cuenta con números ríos, lagos y lagunas, de origen volcánico y de origen fluvial.
La biodiversidad del país (0.07% de la extensión terrestre del planeta), según los enfoques más utilizados. Los ecosistemas terrestres del país se pueden agrupar en 9 Biomas (Villar, 1994), en 14 zonas de vida según Holdrige y 14 ecorregiones terrestres (Dinerstein, et al., 1995) y (MARN, 2009).
La biorregionalización de la Plataforma Continental y Costa, el espacio marino de Guatemala se encuentra en dos provincias: Pacífico Oriental y Atlántico Noroeste Tropical que contiene las ecorregiones marinas.
Los componentes fisicoquímicos corresponden a la atmósfera, hidrósfera y litósfera; los biológicos a la biósfera y los sociales a la sociósfera (Gallopin, 1980).
USO DE LA TIERRA
El principal medio de producción en Guatemala, es la tierra.
Existe una distribución desigual de la tierra: el 98% está dividida en latifundios, son las tierras más fértiles; pertenecen al 2% de la población, es decir, la oligarquía y burguesía y 2% de la tierra distribuida en minifundio, que pertenece al 98% de la población: mayas, garífunas, xincas y ladinos pobres.
Los latifundios se concentran en los departamentos de Escuintla, Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez, Izabal y el Valle del Polochic, Alta Verapaz. Son tierras fértiles y tienen alta capacidad de uso; soportables sin causar deterioro físico del suelo.
El minifundio, son extensiones pequeñas de tierras infértiles, ubicadas en cerros y laderas, que generalmente son propiedad o están en posesión de campesinos medios y pobres. Su producción es fundamentalmente para el consumo familiar; no es suficiente para la comercialización a gran escala.
Monocultivo, minería, degradación del suelo y biodiversidad.
En el latifundio, en los últimos años, se ha incrementado el monocultivo. El suelo se utiliza de manera intensiva para sembrar, cultivar y cosechar caña, para producir azúcar y sus derivados y palma africana para la producción de aceites y grasas. En estos lugares, se ha eliminado el cultivo de granos ancestrales, como el maíz, el frijol negro y arroz para el consumo y comercialización interna y para exportar a Centroamérica; productos básicos en la alimentación de las grandes mayorías, obligando a importarlos, debilitando la seguridad alimentaria y la economía del país. Se ha incrementado el uso de semillas transgénicas.
El uso intensivo de la tierra, acompañado del uso excesivo de insecticidas, pesticidas; la deforestación, por la tala excesiva, provoca la degradación del suelo y la biodiversidad, hasta convertirse en tierras improductivas que no se pueden recuperar en menos de 20 años. Guatemala. Alcanza el 1% anual de territorio deforestado, la más alta en América Latina.
La minería extractiva a cielo abierto
En el territorio guatemalteco se encuentran gran cantidad de minerales, tales como: níquel, tierras raras, jade, oro, tungsteno y manganeso, entre otros.
Las empresas mineras que operan en el país: Goldcorp, empresa transnacional que opera a través de la empresa “Montana” exploradora de oro y la empresa “Marlin” que extrae y produce oro a cielo abierto en San Marcos; “Entre Mares” proyecto minero de Cerro blanco, Jutiapa. La Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel, S.A - CGN -, es una subsidiaria de Solway Investment Group, extrae y comercializa níquel.
El Ministerio de Energía y Minas es la autoridad que aprueba licencias de exploración, extracción, producción y comercialización del petróleo, oro, níquel, jade, entre otros. Se conoce que existen y se extraen tierras raras. Los contratos son leoninos; las empresas se quedan con el 99% de lo producido y el gobierno con el 1% de regalías.
La explotación minera, en la actualidad, deja al país enfermedades incurables, deterioro de las viviendas; contaminación del medio ambiente, deforestación, ríos, lagos y lagunas contaminadas y secas; la destrucción de la biodiversidad; la fuga y pérdida de nuestros bienes naturales, es decir, pobreza y miseria para las grandes mayorías.
La hidrológía
Guatemala cuenta con 38 ríos y sus cuencas, distribuidos en tres vertientes hidrológicas: la del Pacífico, la del Atlántico y la del Golfo de México; 7 lagos 49 lagunas costeras, 109 lagunetas, 3 lagunas temporales, 7 embalses. De los 38 ríos principales 14 están altamente contaminados: los ríos Villalobos, Paz, Motagua, Suchiate, Naranjo, Salamá, Ican, Coyolate, María Linda contaminados con plástico, desechos sólidos aguas servidas e industriales.
Hidroeléctricas
En Guatemala, se han construido varías hidroeléctricas: Chixoy, Renace, Jurun Marinalá entre otras.
Su construcción e instalación ha generado conflictos sociales, ya que el gobierno ha incumplido con la Consulta y el consentimiento libre, previo e informado a la población, situación que también se ha dado para llevar a cabo proyectos extractivos, en los territorios de los pueblos indígenas y mestizos. Hay expropiación de tierras comunales. Así mismo, la obtención de licencias, se da sin cumplir con las normas ambientales y técnicas a través de acciones corruptas por parte de los Ministerios de Ambiente y Energía y Minas.
La generación de energía eléctrica utilizando los caudales de los ríos ha provocado el secuestro de éstos, dejando a las comunidades agua abajo, sin el vital líquido y en otras, provocan grandes inundaciones. Esas comunidades, no son beneficiadas con energía, pues ésta es comercializada hacia otras regiones e incluso al exterior de la república.
Manejo de desechos sólidos
Históricamente, el país, ha carecido de una estrategia protectora del medio ambiente. La urbanización de las grandes ciudades carece de plantas de tratamiento; las aguas residuales y los desechos sólidos desfogan en los ríos que con el transcurrir del tiempo se convierten en ríos de aguas negras. Ríos importantes, desembocan en lagunetas, lagos y el mar. El lago de Amatitlán y el de Atitlán, principales sitios turísticos, están contaminados con desechos sólidos, plástico y otros. No existe una cultura de reciclaje, ni un sistema de monitoreo de la basura, del tren de aseo, del manejo, tratamiento de los desechos y construcción de rellenos sanitarios. El principal vertedero de la ciudad de Guatemala “está dentro de los 50 más grandes del mundo y entre los 13 de América Latina, con un área de 19.3 hectáreas, y recibe anualmente 300,000 toneladas de desechos de uso domiciliar, comercial, industrial y hospitalario.
Es hasta inicios del 2025 que entra en vigencia la Ley de Medio Ambiente y por primera vez se plantea la separación de los desechos: orgánicos, reciclables y no reciclables. No existen políticas públicas que promuevan procesos educativos sobre protección del medio ambiente, la cultura del reciclaje y el aprovechamiento de los desechos sólidos, para transformarlos y reutilizarlos.
Cambio climático:
Las comunidades pobres y sobre todo del interior del país, son las más vulnerables a las consecuencias del cambio climático. En los últimos años, la pérdida de vida de las personas y los destrozos de sus bienes, ante el incremento de fenómenos naturales, se ha elevado. Aumentan los deslaves, derrumbe de cerros, huracanes, tormentas tropicales; daños por falta de lluvia, lo que ha causado grandes daños en el Corredor Seco, donde los principales cultivos se han quemado por falta de agua; la desnutrición y hambruna se incrementa ante la pérdida de las cosechas. La situación de extrema pobreza, que implica, entre otras cosas, la falta de vivienda digna, obliga a grandes sectores de población a ubicarse en lugares de alto riesgo, como las laderas de ríos, en la cima de cerros, faldas de volcanes, exponiéndose a consecuencias graves como erupciones volcánicas. No existen en el país, políticas públicas de prevención y mitigación ante tales fenómenos.
En Guatemala el 56.6% de la población vive en pobreza y pobreza extrema; no tiene acceso al trabajo formal, a la salud y seguridad social, educación, vivienda. Mientras que existen alrededor de 15 familias que forman parte de la oligarquía y burguesía, quienes son propietarios de los grandes medios de producción.
Existe un Estado dependiente del dominio imperial norteamericano; de la oligarquía, burguesía y la junta de generales, quienes utilizan las instituciones y a los gobiernos de turno para su propio beneficio.
CONCLUSIÓN
La crisis ambiental en Guatemala, es consecuencia de la existencia de un sistema en el que aún se combinan formas pre capitalistas, con formas capitalistas neoliberales, que privilegian la producción de bienes de consumo, para satisfacción de intereses empresariales, tanto de la incipiente y casi inexistente industria nacional, como de grandes corporaciones transnacionales que día a día se instalan en el país, sin la observancia de un sistema jurídico que contemple la producción y consumo ecológico.
Esos empresarios se centran en obtener a toda costa, grandes ganancias para sí.
Históricamente existe una sociedad dividida en clases sociales; una sociedad profundamente clasista, racista, donde la miseria, explotación, opresión, discriminación étnico cultural y exclusión, que se agudizan cada día.
El ser humano, dentro de la cosmovisión maya ancestral se ubica en unidad; en una comunidad de vida con la madre naturaleza; éste debería ser el centro de interés; parte fundamental para la gobernanza.
Pero no existe la voluntad de elaborar políticas públicas orientadas a lograr un crecimiento socioeconómico que contribuya a satisfacer las necesidades vitales del ser humano, basadas en el desarrollo ecológico y de la tecnología; el impulso de la industria nacional, el ahorro energético, la protección medioambiental, las energías limpias, el reciclaje de los desechos sólidos, el trato de las aguas residuales, y el ahorro de la misma. La producción de bienes y el consumo, debe basarse en proteger y privilegiar la vida de los seres humanos.
La solución a la crisis debe ser integral, con un Estado fuerte y con una estrategia de desarrollo sostenible y nacional. La crisis socioeconómica, ecológica y medioambiental por la que atraviesa el país, se puede superar con el cumplimiento de los Acuerdos de Paz, única agenda de nación que existe en el país. Guatemala tiene que insertarse en el polo económico del Sur global. Ser parte de la Nueva plataforma para el crecimiento global basada en los principios fundadores del BRICS: consenso, equidad y apertura en aras del bienestar humano.
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