Ngo landscapes in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala

Political dimensions of conservation abound. The biosphere-reserve model, however, depoliticizes the landscape by neglecting politics as a shaper of ecologies. To illustrate this process of depoliticization, I examine discourses about environmental degradation, power structures engaged in implementing conservation measures, and emerging landscapes in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Conservationist discourses hold migrant farmers responsible for deforestation and land degradation in the Peten, to the neglect of wider socioeconomic conditions that perpetuate poverty in Guatemala. Sociospatial consequences include misdirected projects and landscapes that reflect the goals of nongovernmental organizations, not local people's needs and aspirations.