Macheteing away bunches of grass, Leonel Acosta is waging an unequal but hopeful struggle to recover land deforested by illegal cattle ranching in the heart of Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve, the largest protected area in Central America. In the northern part of the country, near the borders with Mexico and Belize, this immense green spot of 2.1 million hectares that occupies nearly 20 % of Guatemalan territory-and is as large as El Salvador-has gone from 20 % deforestation to 33 % deforestation from 2000 to 2022 due to timber trafficking, fires, and, most importantly, the planting of pastures for livestock. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES