Saving the Cradle of Maya Civilization: Mirador Basin, Guatemala    
Location: Guatemala   Length: 9 min     56k    300k    700k      56k    300k    700k
The Mirador Basin, Guatemala, is noted for its many pre-Classic Maya cities and monuments, predating the Classic Maya sites of nearby Tikal by 800-1200 years. La Danta pyramid, at El Mirador, may be the largest in Mesoamerica. The Mirador Archaeological and Wildlife Preserve, proposed by the Global Heritage Fund and others, may be the only chance to save the last forests of the Maya Biosphere, of which 70 percent has been cut and burned in the past decade, from an environmental catastrophe similar to that seen by the ancient Maya.