Forest Ecosystems

Central America functions as a biological corridor between North and South America. The influence of two oceans and to the presence of mountains (up to 4000 m above the sea level) create conditions for high biodiversity: according to the information presented by the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, the region contains three types of Biomes, 20 life zones and 33 ecoregions.

According to FAO Global Forest Assessment 2005, 43.9% of the land area is forested (40.8% primary forests), although this figure is unevenly distributed among countries.  Despite the its small area (0.6% of the world’s total forest area), Central America contains 7 percent of the world's biological diversity. It has approximately 4 million hectares of natural tropical pine forests, ranging from Mexico to southern Nicaragua and Panama, and approximately 7 million hectares of tropical hardwood forests as well as mangrove areas along both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.

Figure 1. Forest cover in Central America

Source: CIFOR/WCMC: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/data/cdrom2/cam_for.htm

Click here for summary tables on the status of forests.

Forest ecosystems are an important source of employment and income for a large number of people in Central America. The market for wood and timber in TroFCCA countries is presented in the following table, to give a rough idea of what are the major items characterizing forest exploitation by society.

Products from Forests in TroFCCA countries.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization (2003): World Forest Assessment.
*Source: MARENA, 2004. Estado del Ambiente en Nicaragua 2003. Managua, Nicaragua.
**Source: T.A. McKenzie (2002) “El Sector Forestal de Costa Rica y las Estadísticas Forestales “ ONF San José CR. pp. 39

Principal threats to forest ecosystems

Central America has one of the highest negative rates of forest area change in the world.  Within TroFCCA countries, Nicaragua has the highest rates and Costa Rica and Honduras the lowest in terms of area loss relative to forest cover.

Besides forest cover change, forest fires represent one of the greatest threats to ecosystems in the region. Approximately 500.000 ha were burnt between 1990 and 1995. Droughts induced by El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) further increases the vulnerability to forest fires as demonstrated by the high number of hectares burnt in 1998 (2,5 million ha) in an ENSO event year when principally Honduras and Nicaragua together with Guatemala have been affected in the region. Another important threat to forest ecosystems is logging for firewood, particularly in Honduras (1.58 M3/capita/year) and Nicaragua (0.95 M3/capita/year).

All Central American countries have in place policies for the sustainable use and management of forests. Central America, as a whole, has 411 declared and 391 proposed IUCN protected areas. Private reserves exist in Costa Rica (85) and Guatemala (10), but most of the protected areas are national property.  Besides, there region promotes sustainable forest management through certified production. The World Wildlife Fund, for the year 2004, reports in Costa Rica 96083 ha of certified forest management (mainly plantations of Teka and Melina), in Nicaragua 16727 ha and in Honduras 37277 ha (mainly natural forest ecosystems).