| The Lacandon forest encompassed more than 5,000 square miles in 1943; today it measures less that 2,120 square miles. Population has soared in the past three decades, as petroleum speculators, loggers, cattle ranchers and landless peasants exploit this rich frontier. Some experts believe that, given the present rate of destruction, the forest will disappear by the year 2010. It has been found to be more profitable to harvest renewable resources like chicle, allspice, and ferns used by florists than to clear and destroy the forest for agricultural fields. While most Lacandon have been converted to fundamentalist Christianity, some have remained fiercely conservative, preserving many elements of the old Maya religion |
