Publication: The Current State and Future Prospects of Drones for Development in Guatemala
Loading...
Date
2025-04-21
ISSN
Published
2025-04-21
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report aims to evaluate the current status of the drone ecosystem in Guatemala and considers ways to unlock the potential of drones by encouraging wider adoption. To this aim, following the methodology utilized by PwC, a mapping of the current ecosystem was conducted, along with an analysis of the regulatory framework, a calculation of the market potential, and finally, an evaluation of the initiatives necessary to ensure the expansion of the drone ecosystem over the next five years. The first part of the report analyses the current status of the drone ecosystem in the country, identifying the main stakeholders and key players present in Guatemala and the roles that they currently play in the sector. Additionally, this section explores the maturity of the sector in the country, focusing particularly on the components of the UAS ecosystem, including an evaluation of the current situation regarding the regulatory framework, identifying main bottlenecks, challenges, and opportunities for improvement that can unlock the industry’s potential in the country. The second part looks at UAVs' growth and market potential, specifically regarding use cases and the sectors that are most relevant and have the most potential for investment and industry development. The third section describes the non-commercial drone applications currently present in the country and assesses which has the most potential for successful development and growth. Here it is also showcased the relevance of drones in tackling social and environmental problems in the country. The last section provides an overview of key initiatives that need to be implemented by the government and the relevant regulators to ensure the development of the drone ecosystem and the broader adoption of UAVs across key sectors in Guatemala. Recommendations are made for activities and initiatives that aid the sector’s growth, increasing digitalization, raise drone awareness, and accelerate the formalization of the industry in Guatemala.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2025. The Current State and Future Prospects of Drones for Development in Guatemala. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43101 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The Current State and Future Prospects of Drones for Development in Haiti(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-21)The objective of this report is to assess the state of the drone ecosystem in Haiti and provide recommendations on the practical steps that can be taken to unlock the drone industry’s potential for development. The study was based on comprehensive desk research, interviews with key local and international stakeholders, and workshops and working sessions with relevant players. A mapping of the status of the current ecosystem was conducted, along with an analysis of regulatory frameworks, an analysis of the market potential for the technology, development, social and environmental use of UAVs, and finally, the identification of the initiatives necessary to ensure the expansion of the drone ecosystem over the next five years. The first part of the report analyses the current status of the drone ecosystem in the country, exploring the sector's maturity, evaluating the current regulatory framework, identifying key ecosystem players, and recognizing the key bottlenecks, challenges, and opportunities for improvement that can catalyze Haiti’s development. The second section compares the market potential of Haiti’s drone market to the rest of the Caribbean and the LAC region before describing the drone applications currently present in the country and evaluating which of them have the most potential for successful development and growth. In addition, this section also showcases the relevance of drones in tackling social and environmental problems in the country. The final section provides a general overview of initiatives that need to be implemented by the government and the relevant players to ensure the development of the drone ecosystem and the wider adoption of UAVs across key sectors in Haiti. Recommendations are made for activities and initiatives that support the sector’s development, increasing digitalization, raise drone awareness, and accelerate the development of the industry in Haiti.Publication Drones for Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-03)In 2021-23, the World Bank conducted regional analytical work under the Support for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones) in Projects and Operations in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Advisory Services and Analytics. The work involved in-depth analysis of the development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in 35 countries across LAC, identified key use cases, and provided a map of key domestic market players. UAS can be defined as aircraft designed to operate autonomously, or aircraft piloted remotely without a human on board, plus the equipment necessary for their safe and efficient operation. This comprehensive definition embraces all aspects of such systems. In popular usage, UAS are often referred to as drones. This is an imprecise term that focuses on the remotely piloted vehicle without including the flying systems behind it. Given the widespread acceptance and use of the term, however, drones may be used synonymously with unmanned aircraft systems in this report. Innovation in the UAS sector has resulted in a wide variety of models as new applications are developed. Drones are designed for specific purposes and have different capabilities in terms of range, speed, hovering capability, and load-carrying capacity. Sizes and shapes range from tiny drones used for photography, to big cargo drones able to transport loads weighing dozens of kilos. Costs range from a few hundred dollars for small units to several million dollars for systems requiring infrastructure for operation or for systems equipped with high-tech on-board technology. This variety allows for a wide span of uses that, beyond today’s widespread recreational use, can provide new technical solutions for many professional applications in the civil domain. This report intends to give an overview of the stage of UAS development in the region and serve as a guiding document for public sector decision-makers willing to explore the use of this technology.Publication Drones for Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-21)This report aims to assess the present state of Brazil's drone ecosystem while also investigating and analyzing potential opportunities to broaden the utilization of drones for commercial and developmental purposes within the nation. Simultaneously, the report provides recommendations to encourage broader drone adoption and to enhance Brazil's standing as a regional hub for UAS technology and its applications. To this aim, a comprehensive assessment was undertaken to understand the status of the drone ecosystem, including a review of the regulatory framework, an analysis of the market potential of UAS commercial services, and an exploration of its developmental, social, and environmental applications. Ultimately, the study entailed identifying key initiatives for fostering the expansion of the drone ecosystem over the next five years. The first part of the report gives an overview of the drone ecosystem in Brazil, identifying the level of maturity of different components in comparison to selected benchmarked countries in the LAC region. Additionally, the section explores the stakeholders, identifying their main categories, and regulations that support the implementation of UAVs across the country. The second part describes the current and forecasted market potential for drone services. It gives a detailed look at the most relevant industries with significant investment and sector development potential. Forecasts on job creation and the number of commercial and recreational drones are also included in the chapter. The third part explores how drones can address Brazil's key social and environmental challenges. The fourth part provides an overview of strategic pillars and key initiatives that need to be implemented to ensure the development of the drone ecosystem and the broader adoption of UAVs across key sectors in Brazil. Recommendations are made to increase digitalization, raise drone awareness, and accelerate economic growth, improving the country's economic, social, and environmental prospects. The last part examines a case study of a drone Proof of Concept implemented in Tocantins. The chapter details the lessons learned and key insights about how drones can support environmental monitoring efforts, especially related to inspections and mapping protected areas and water sources.Publication Biochar Systems for Smallholders in Developing Countries : Leveraging Current Knowledge and Exploring Future Potential for Climate-Smart Agriculture(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014-06-23)Biochar is the carbon-rich organic matter that remains after heating biomass under the minimization of oxygen during a process called pyrolysis. There are a number of reasons why biochar systems may be particularly relevant in developing-country contexts. This report offers a review of what is known about opportunities and risks of biochar systems. Its aim is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge regarding biochar science. In that sense the report also offers a reconciling view on different scientific opinions about biochar providing an overall account that shows the various perspectives of its science and application. This includes soil and agricultural impacts of biochar, climate change impacts, social impacts, and competing uses of biomass. The report aims to contextualize the current scientific knowledge in order to put it at use to address the development climate change nexus, including social and environmental sustainability. The report is organized as follows: chapter one offers some introductory comments and notes the increasing interest in biochar both from a scientific and practitioner's point of view; chapter two gives further background on biochar, describing its characteristics and outlining the way in which biochar systems function. Chapter three considers the opportunities and risks of biochar systems. Based on the results of the surveys undertaken, chapter four presents a typology of biochar systems emerging in practice, particularly in the developing world. Life-cycle assessments of the net climate change impact and the net economic profitability of three biochar systems with data collected from relatively advanced biochar projects were conducted and are presented in chapter five. Chapter six investigates various aspects of technology adoption, including barriers to implementing promising systems, focusing on economics, carbon market access, and sociocultural barriers. Finally, the status of knowledge regarding biochar systems is interpreted in chapter seven to determine potential implications for future involvement in biochar research, policy, and project formulation.Publication Toward a Better Future : Education and Training for Economic Development in Singapore since 1965(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)The Singapore economy has undergone significant stages of development since the 1960s. It has grown from its traditional role as a regional port and distribution center in the 1960s to an international manufacturing and service center in the 1970s and 1980s, and now into a center of science-based manufacturing and knowledge-intensive technical services. Much has been written to explain this success. Emphasis has been placed on the early adoption of an export-oriented strategy for industrialization, high savings and investment rates, a stable macroeconomic environment, and even socio cultural traits that support successful industrialization. This volume documents a less-explored aspect of Singapore's economic development: it examines the transformation of the education and training system since the country's independence in 1965 and how the process contributed to skills formation and, hence, economic change.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication The Impact of Climate Change on Education and What to Do about It(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-05-02)Education can be the key to ending poverty in a livable planet, but governments must act now to protect it. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as cyclones, floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires. These extreme weather events are in turn disrupting schooling; precipitating learning losses, dropouts, and long-term impacts. Even if the most drastic climate mitigation strategies were implemented, extreme weather events will continue to have detrimental impacts on education outcomes.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication State of Social Protection Report 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-07)Social protection goes well beyond cash transfers; it includes policies and programs that bridge skill, financial, and information gaps, aiding people in securing better jobs. The three pillars of social protection—social assistance, social insurance, and labor market programs—support households and workers in handling crises, escaping poverty, facing transitions, and seizing employment opportunities. But despite a substantial expansion over the past decade, 2 billion people remain uncovered or inadequately covered across low- and middle-income countries. Drawing from administrative and household survey data from the World Bank’s Atlas of Social Protection Indicators of Resilience and Equity (ASPIRE), the "State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge" documents advances and challenges to strengthening social protection and labor systems across low- and middle-income countries, analyzing the evolution of expenditure, coverage, and adequacy of support. This report details four policy action areas governments can embrace to maximize the benefits of adequate social protection for all: extending social protection to those in need; strengthening the adequacy of social protection support; building shock-proof social protection systems; and optimizing social protection financing. The report discusses how the path of reforms will depend on country context, capacity, and fiscal space. The rising frequency of shocks and crises calls for major investments in the adaptability and preparedness of social protection and labor systems. Amid a world in transition, social protection is more important and necessary than ever.Publication Infrastructure Monitor 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-28)The Infrastructure Monitor report covers global trends in private investment in infrastructure to inform investors, policy-makers and other practitioners. The objective is to deliver global insights on global infrastructure trends across key topics such as investment volumes, performance, blended finance, and ESG drivers, facilitating the monitoring of private infrastructure investment and its performance. These insights aim to support policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders in developing sustainable, resilient, and inclusive infrastructure while fostering effective partnerships with the private sector. Acknowledging the significant infrastructure data gap — with notable variations in coverage, quality across countries and income groups, and differences in the availability of regional breakdowns — our approach leverages the best available aggregated data from leading infrastructure databases to generate market insights while also providing context on its limitations. 2025 will be the fifth version of the report, the first under the World Bank.Publication South Asia Development Update, April 2025: Taxing Times(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23)Growth prospects for South Asia have dimmed. The global economic environment has become more challenging and is a source of heightened downside risks. After a decade of repeated disruptions, South Asia’s buffers to cushion new shocks are slim. Tackling some of its greatest inefficiencies and vulnerabilities could help South Asia navigate this unusually uncertain outlook: unproductive agricultural sectors, dependence on energy imports, pressures from rising global temperatures, and fragile fiscal positions. For most South Asian countries, increased revenue mobilization is a prerequisite for strengthening fiscal positions. Even taking into account the particular challenges of collecting taxes in South Asian economies—such as widespread informal economic activity and large agriculture sectors—South Asian economies face larger tax gaps than the average emerging market and developing economy (EMDE). This suggests the need for improved tax policy and administration. Until fiscal positions have strengthened, the burden of climate adaptation will disproportionately fall on the private sector. If allowed sufficient flexibility, private sector adaptation could offset about one-third of the likely climate damage by 2050. This may, however, require governments to remove obstacles that prevent workers and firms from moving across locations and activities. As growth prospects dim, the challenge grows to create jobs for South Asia’s rapidly expanding working-age population. South Asia’s large diasporas could become a source of strength if their knowledge, networks, and other resources can be better tapped for investment and trade.