The BBC Documentary Guatemala and the Mayan World showed it is possible in the forests of Guatemala to walk over an ancient pyramid as big as ancient ones in Egypt and not know they are there, just seeing dense tropical forest hugging a hill but because of Lidar – everything becomes visible.
They are discovering how the Mayan people had a much better understanding of conservation than we realsed before.
Another break through and help to Archeologists navigating this area is introduction of Sustainable Forestry Previously once areas around Mayan pyramids have been cleared, pyramids are looted and drugs grown around them.
Sustainable forestry means local people have an income and incentive to look after the rain forests – last few remaining lungs of the World and rather than growing drugs which find their way north into US and losing greater amounts of rain forests in this area to man induced fires as happened much in 2020 – instead the local people have a reason to look after them. This documentary reported much less loss of forest in these areas than elsewhere.
No forestry at all and a natural World would be better but people in these areas want an income and sustainable forestry seems a better way forwards for all.
sunnypolarbear 