$78K NSF Award given to Dr. Francisco Estrada-Belli to study Climate Change
According to the grant abstract, “the study will provide a detailed record of human occupation and environmental change” in the Maya Biosphere Reserve forest of northeastern Guatemala. This lowland area was where the Maya settled in pre-Columbian times. Researchers note that “climate change and environmental degradation have been proposed as the primary causes of extensive demographic decline” in the Maya population on two separate occasions.