The westernmost nation in Central America,Guatemala shares borders with Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. From north to south, the greatest distance is 275 miles (443 kilometers) and from east to west the greatest distance is 250 miles (402 kilometers). Marked by its compressed diversity, this tightly consolidated country contains more than 40,000 square miles (100,00 square kilometers), numerous habitats and roughly 11 million people. Guatemala contains geographical zones that range from the boiling hot black sands of the Pacific Coast to snow-capped volcanic peaks to the high elevation scrub forest of the Cuchumatanes to the dense hardwood jungles of the Peten region. On the west side of the country is two hundred miles of Pacific coastline. The climate here is tropical with thick summer rains. For years much of the highland population seasonally migrated to this region because this is where most of the sugar, banana and cotton farms are located. Roughly 50 km inland, the land rises to form one of two volcanic mountain ranges that run along the coastal border from northwest to the southeast. Guatemala has 37 major volcanoes, of which Tajumulco is the tallest at 4200 meters (almost 4200 feet). It is the highest peak in Central America. A third region contains the capital city, Ciudad de Guatemala, and most of the country's population. This zone occurs in the heart of the Sierra Madres where the mountain ranges plateau. Nicknamed "land of eternal spring" annual temperatures in this region fluctuate between 62 degrees and 73 degrees. A final climatic region is in the Peten to the north, and along the eastern coastline. Although this area contains only 40,000 people, it covers approximately one-third of the national territory. Comprised of dense hardwood forest, much of this land has been logged but much remains as wilderness. Since most of the region's minerals are locked within the forest canopy, the soil in this region is poor and the land is generally not arable. Near the Caribbean coast in the forests of Cerro San Gil, more than half of the country's bird species can be found. Additionally the Caribbean coastline is one of Central America's richest marine resources.

The Guatemalan highlands contain roughly 70% of Guatemala's mammal reptile and birds species including the quetzal. However, deforestation threatens much of this richness and diversity. Slash and burn farming and cattle ranching are fragmenting the cloud forests of the quetzal and overfishing and deforestation are effecting populations of sea turtles, sawfish, jaguar and agouti.