Before the Spanish conquest, about 2/3 of Mexico was forested, from cool pine-clad highlands, to tropical jungle. Today only around 15% (300000 sq. km) remains forested, and this is being reduced at a rate of about 11'000 sq. km a year for grazing, logging and new farming settlements.

The southern states of Chiapas and Tabasco are said to have lost more than half their tropical jungles since 1980, and by some estimates only 2% of Mexico's tropical jungles remain.

An estimated 13% of Mexican soil is severely eroded (with more than 1000 tons of soil lost per square km per year in such areas) and 66% is moderately eroded. Erosion is mainly the result of deforestation followed by cattle grazing or intensive agriculture on unsuitable terrain.

Some 2000 sq. km of fertile land are estimated to be desertified annually. In the Mexiteca area of Oaxaca, around 80% of the arable land is gone.