The Five Great Forests of Mesoamerica

Five forests, spanning Mexico to Colombia, cover an area three times the size of Switzerland and store more than half of Mesoamerica's carbon. Cattle ranching has already shrunk three of them by nearly a quarter. Re:wild and partners are fighting to stop the rest from going the same way.

Support Conservation in the Five Great Forests

Protecting the last five

The Five Great Forests of Mesoamerica are the Maya Forest, the Moskitia, the Indio Maíz-Tortuguero, the Talamanca, and the Darién. Together they span from Mexico through Central America into Colombia and represent the largest remaining intact forests in the region.

They contain Key Biodiversity Areas, support Jaguars patrolling dense humid forest, Scarlet and Great Green Macaws flying through the canopy, and Central American River Turtles living in the rivers and wetlands of the largest of the five.

Indigenous peoples and local communities govern more than half of the total area encompassed by the Five Great Forests. They have lived and worked in these forests sustainably for centuries and they have been the true guardians of the Five Great Forests for all of that time.

Page Hero Image © Zdeněk Macháček

Since 2004, three of the Five Great Forests have shrunk almost a quarter in size. Ninety percent of that destruction came from cattle ranching.

Some of that cattle feeds into US markets. The connection between consumer choices in wealthy countries and forest loss in Central America is direct and documented. The Five Great Forests cannot be saved by conservation organizations alone. They require political will, supply chain accountability, and the economic conditions that make keeping forests standing more viable than cutting them down. Photo © WCS Mesoamerica

Learn More About Conflict Beef

Protecting the Moskitia, one of the largest intact forests in the Western Hemisphere

In Honduras's Moskitia region, Re:wild worked with Wildlife Conservation Society and the Kaha Kamasa Foundation to create a coalition of Indigenous, NGO, and government partners to protect this irreplaceable landscape.

The Moskitia was hit by two devastating back-to-back hurricanes in 2020, which weakened forest and left communities exposed to land-grabs for cattle ranching.

Re:wild and partners formed the Mesoamerica Climate Resilience and Response Fund in response, rushing support to Indigenous and local communities to help them recover and continue defending their forests.
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The Five Great Forests Alliance is working toward no extinctions, 10 million hectares permanently protected, and 500,000 hectares rewilded by 2030.

The Five Great Forests Alliance brings together Indigenous leaders, the eight countries of the Central American Commission for Environment and Development, and NGOs around a shared plan with clear targets.

Re:wild is a member of the alliance and supports its implementation across all five forests. The plan covers species protection, forest restoration, community livelihoods, and ending cattle ranching within the forests.

Our Partners

Every wild place has a story.

Explore the landscapes, the species, and the people working to protect them. © WCS Mesoamerica

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