ABSTRACT
Central America encompasses a significant international carbonate karst landscape, amounting to approximately 40,000 km2, or about eight percent of the total land area [1, 2]. Nearly 40% of Central America’s karst is in the Petén department of northeastern Guatemala and extending into Belize, with other significant areas in Honduras, elsewhere in Guatemala, and in Nicaragua. Considerable geologic, topographic and environmental heterogeneity characterizes the region, but Central America contains a number of dramatic karst landscapes, including cockpits, towers, dry valleys, sinkholes, and extensive cave systems, plus an impressive marine karst landscape, including the World’s second longest barrier reef off the Caribbean coast of Belize.
