Protected Areas in Mexico

The Mapimí Biosphere Reserve in northern Mexico is located in the Bolson de Mapimí of the central Chihuahuan Desert. It contains three core areas: Sierra de la Campana, Laguna de las Palomas (a salted lagoon), and a desert habitat called Dunas de la Soledad.

The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve protects key overwintering sites for the monarch butterfly. The millions of monarch butterflies that return here every year bend tree branches by their weight, fill the sky when they take flight and make a sound like light rain with the beating of their wings.

The Nahá-Metzabok Biosphere Reserve is located in southeastern Mexico, in Chiapas state. Located in the northeastern Chiapas Highlands, the reserve protects montane rainforests, pine-oak forests, and natural lakes within the Lacandón Forest region.

Nevado de Toluca National Park protects the Nevado de Toluca volcano, which forms nearly the entire park surface and is the fourth-highest peak in Mexico. The volcano, still commonly referred to by its Aztec name, "Xinantécatl," has been long extinct.

The Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve, located in the northwest of the state of Tabasco in southern Mexico, is one of the most important wetlands in what used to be Mesoamerica due to its abundance of aquatic plants and the amount of freshwater it receives.

Pico de Orizaba is an inactive stratovolcano on the southern edge of the Mexican Plateau. It is home to the largest glacier in Mexico, Gran Glaciar Norte. Pico de Orizaba National Park protects the volcano and the surrounding area.

The archaeological site of Palenque, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, is one of the most outstanding Classic period sites of the Maya area. Palenque is an incomparable achievement of Mayan art and illustrates one of the most significant achievements of mankind in the American continent.

San Lorenzo Marine Archipelago National Park, located on San Lorenzo Island, is part of an archipelago in the Gulf of California off the eastern coast of Baja California. The area is protected due to its importance as a habitat for several endangered species.

In the language of the Mayan peoples who once inhabited this region, Sian Ka'an means 'Origin of the Sky'. Located on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, this Biosphere Reserve contains tropical forests, mangroves and marshes, as well as a large marine section intersected by a barrier reef.

The Sierra de Álamos - Río Cuchujaqui Biosphere Reserve, in the Mexican State of Sonora, hosts extraordinary biological wealth and an abundance of critical species. Vegetation ranges from tropical deciduous forests to Sierra Madre evergreen forests.