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The Geographical Review July 1998, Vol. 88 (3), pp. 388-412 NGO LANDSCAPES: CONSERVATION IN THE MAYA BIOSPHERE RESERVE, PETÉN, GUATEMALA JUANITA SUNDBERG ABSTRACT: Political dimensions of conservation abound. The biosphere-reserve model, however, depoliticizes the landscape by neglecting politics as a shaper of ecologies. To illustrate this process of depoliticization, I examine discourses about environmental degradation, power structures engaged in implementing conservation measures, and emerging landscapes in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Conservationist discourses hold migrant farmers responsible for deforestation and land degradation in the Petén, to the neglect of wider socioeconomic conditions that perpetuate poverty in Guatemala. Sociospatial consequences include misdirected projects and landscapes that reflect the goals of nongovernmental organizations, not local people's needs and aspirations. Keywords: biosphere reserves, conservation, Guatemala, NGO landscapes DR. SUNDBERG received her doctorate in geography from the University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712-1098.