The pursuit of palm oil profits by agribusinesses has surged in Guatemala

The area of Guatemala given over to palm plantations to produce agrofuel increased by 146 percent between 2005 and 2010, according to estimates by the National Institute for Agrarian and Rural Studies in Guatemala City.

This huge expansion has been largely unregulated.

The new palm frontier is in the north of the country, where protected tropical forests have been cleared for plantations.

Original source: The Guardian