City report · Belize
Belmopan Air quality today
Air quality in Belmopan currently reads AQI 19 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 19
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 2.9
- tree cover
- 42.6%
- trees in this area
- 134K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Belmopan, Belize (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Oct 25, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Belmopan · AQI 19 (Good)
Belmopan's tree count comes to 133,832 trees across 12.57 km², already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Belmopan today: AQI 19, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 14:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 3 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Choloma and San Pedro Sula
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
2.9
PM10
1.6
NO₂
0.4
O₃
48.0
SO₂
0.4
CO
107.0
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Belmopan's daily AQI at 27 on average, from 20 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 48 on Nov 8.
Where Belmopan stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Belmopan: Healthy tree cover
42.6% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
133,832
Target trees
133,832
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Belmopan lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Belmopan has lost about 13,700 hectares of forest (about 19,000 football pitches): 50% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (83%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from February 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 6 km south of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 13,700 haabout 19,000 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 50%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 11,300 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss is slowing down: about 480 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 949 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2020, when about 2,940 hectares of forest were lost.
Belmopan's full deforestation reportHectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 60 ha | 2 ha | 63 ha |
| 2002 | 244 ha | 16 ha | 260 ha |
| 2003 | 219 ha | 4 ha | 223 ha |
| 2004 | 142 ha | 12 ha | 154 ha |
| 2005 | 341 ha | 8 ha | 349 ha |
| 2006 | 194 ha | 14 ha | 208 ha |
| 2007 | 476 ha | 5 ha | 481 ha |
| 2008 | 259 ha | 6 ha | 265 ha |
| 2009 | 401 ha | 59 ha | 460 ha |
| 2010 | 460 ha | 19 ha | 479 ha |
| 2011 | 1,110 ha | 121 ha | 1,230 ha |
| 2012 | 284 ha | 5 ha | 289 ha |
| 2013 | 627 ha | 95 ha | 722 ha |
| 2014 | 829 ha | 33 ha | 862 ha |
| 2015 | 451 ha | 10 ha | 461 ha |
| 2016 | 497 ha | 68 ha | 565 ha |
| 2017 | 540 ha | 43 ha | 583 ha |
| 2018 | 254 ha | 14 ha | 268 ha |
| 2019 | 345 ha | 41 ha | 386 ha |
| 2020 | 1,730 ha | 1,210 ha | 2,940 ha |
| 2021 | 240 ha | 9 ha | 249 ha |
| 2022 | 153 ha | 3 ha | 156 ha |
| 2023 | 710 ha | 258 ha | 968 ha |
| 2024 | 475 ha | 201 ha | 676 ha |
| 2025 | 237 ha | 116 ha | 353 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Belmopan?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good80% · 11,000 ha
- Wildfirescan grow back16% · 2,170 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good2.2% · 306 ha
Also: storms, floods and other natural causes, shifting farming.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 24,000 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 18,200 ha
- Overall change
- −5,800 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Belmopan shrank from about 24,000 hectares to 18,200 hectares, a net loss of about 5,800 hectares (−24%). New forest grew on about 660 hectares, but 6,460 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
In the same region
Measured cities near Belmopan
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Orange Walk94.4 km
Belize
- Tree cover
- 44%
- Air quality
- 16
- San Pedro112.2 km
Belize
- Tree cover
- 33%
- Air quality
- 17
- Chetumal148.9 km
Mexico
- Tree cover
- 19%
- Air quality
- 17
- Puerto Barrios170.7 km
Guatemala
- Tree cover
- 42%
- Air quality
- 34
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Frequently asked
Questions about Belmopan
What is the air quality (AQI) in Belmopan right now?
The latest reading for Belmopan shows an AQI of 19 (Good), observed Nov 10, 14:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Belmopan today?
At AQI 19 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Belmopan been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Belmopan's daily AQI at 27 on average, from 20 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 48 on Nov 8. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Belmopan lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Belmopan has lost about 13,700 hectares of forest (about 19,000 football pitches): 50% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (83%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Forest loss is slowing down: about 480 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 949 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Belmopan shrank from about 24,000 hectares to 18,200 hectares, a net loss of about 5,800 hectares (−24%). New forest grew on about 660 hectares, but 6,460 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Belmopan?
Belmopan has an estimated 133,832 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 42.6% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Belmopan need?
Belmopan has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Belmopan's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Belmopan; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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