In Guatemala, the mangroves are concentrated in lagoons along the Pacific coast. The largest single area located is around the lagoons, estuaries and deltas in the West near the Mexican border of Rio Ococito. Towards the East, significant mangrove areas are found in the Rio Acome estuary, the Monterrico Lagoons and the Rio Paz estuary. There are only a few small areas on the Caribbean coast along the Bahia de Amatique and the delta of the Rio Chocon. The species that form the mangrove forest are: Avicennia germinans, Conocarpus erectus, Laguncularia racemosa, Rhizophora harrisonii, and R. mangle. There are 3 protected areas with mangroves in Guatemala.
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. & Field, C.D., eds. 1997 World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1965 |
23 400 |
Morales C.J.V. 1983. Los manglares de Guatemala. In proceedings of the Conference: Seminario Nacional sobre Manejo Integrado de los Manglares. Tegucigalpa (Honduras), 21-24 Jun 1983 |
X |
Interpretation of aerial photographs. |
1980 |
50 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Los Recursos Forestales de la America Tropical. Proyecto de Evaluación de los Recursos Forestales Tropicales (en el marco de SINUVIMA). FAO, UNEP, Rome 349 pp. |
Estimation and update for 1980 based on Mittak, W.L. 1977. Fortalecimiento del sector forestal - Estudios para la reforma nacional. FO:DP/GUA/72/006. Rough estimate. | |
1988 |
17 400 |
Anon. 1990. Guatemala Forest Mapping Project, 1990. |
X |
Remote sensing |
1992 |
16 100 |
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. and Field, C.D., eds. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp. |
X |
Map analysis. Scale 1:250 000. |
1992 |
16 086 |
Jimenez. 1992. Mangrove forest of the Pacific Coast of Central America. In: U. Seelinger, ed. 1992. Coastal Plant Communities of Latin America. p. 259-267. Academic Press, San Diego, 392 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. Even if this figure only represents the extent of mangroves in the Pacific coast, it is very similar to the national estimate. | |
1996 |
12 000 |
IUCN. 2001. Project on Sustainable Use of Resources Associated with Mangroves on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. | |
1998 |
17 727 |
Instituto Nacional de Bosques. 2000. Mapa de Cobertura Forestal 1999. Documento enviado por e-mail. |
X |
Remote sensing and ground survey |
