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Re-thinking The Fight Against Encroachment In Chiquibul
posted (July 26, 2013)
Last week at the Chiquibul symposium, one of the many initiatives to rescue the park was to create sustained public awareness – the same kind that the Belize jaguars, or even the drive to independence got.

The Friends For Conservation and Development which co-manages the park believes they also have to change their tactics. Here how they explained their new policies which have international implications.

Daniel Ortiz reporting
The FCD is reporting that there has been an increase in illegal activity in the Chiquibul for 2013.

Rafael Manzanero - Executive Director, FCD
"When we observed it 7 years ago we were just learning about the particular threats at that particular time it was Xate extraction - if you look at it now in terms of the environmental and the loss of land - we are seeing that if we do not really take strong, bold and a sustained action in the Chiquibul we will not be able to do it again in the future. This really means that we are reaching to a point where we need to make decisive decisions, it means that we're really reaching to a point where it's optimum in terms of that buffer that we can't really pass or we've passed over that already. So for us observing it on the ground, it's already reaching to a point where we need really to put this thing like now."

Derrick Chan - Manager, Chiquibul National Park
"For this year we started to do aerial flights in the month of February, March and April and we noticed an aggressive slash and burning, progressive of the slashing and burning of the forest. It seems apparent that it is advancing more than other years and we have been able to acquire some satellite images and we have been able to map that and that proves that indeed, this is occurring."

Daniel Ortiz
"Are you able to tell us - how often your team makes sightings of any Guatemalans doing illegal activity in the Chiquibul National Park?"

Derrick Chan
"It is very frequent you know, that happens every week. There's a patrol that goes everyday and goes along the border - we see them every day as long as we're out there - we'll meet them."

And because the unwanted visitors make trips into the forest very frequently, the rangers do not rely on their knowledge of the park as the only means of traversing it. They say that they are constantly surprised by freshly made routes weren't there before.

Jose Sierra - Chief Ranger, FCD
"The area that we operate as you can see has a lot tracks and different directional areas that these people come from - some of them are dealing with farming and some of them are dealing with Xate and some are hunting. You always sometimes find yourself that you cannot just stray away out in the track - you need to have some sort of knowledge of the area. Also we usually use GPS because although we can be familiar with the area, from time to time you will find that a new track might come up and whenever you come out it's not the same place that you came the first time."

Derrick Chan
"It is practically from north to south in the areas that border with Guatemala in the Chiquibul National Park - there are two main areas along the border that there are concentrated communities also and directly across from those areas you can see that that is where the incursions are coming."

Rafael Manzanero - Executive Director, FCD
"The reason why we wanted to highlight the milpa farming was because even though we have seen a trend evolving over the years of losing about 200 hectares of Forest every year - this year in particular we saw a rapid increase of the destruction of the forest. So along the border we might have lost 400-500 acres already."

Derrick Chan
"Every year when the rainy seasons start we notice that there is usually an increase of Xate also and that is what is occurring right now. This week here we are going to concentrate on two main areas where we know they cross the road - they come from up in the mountains around the area of Raspa Culo branch which is a river and the upper Macal; that's an area that there is a lot of Xate, so they come from that area."

While this year has seen increased activity, the FCD says that the targeting of the Chiquibul is only a symptom of a bigger, lingering problem for these Guatemalan farming communities.

Derrick Chan
"We keep patrolling, we keep arresting them and it just keeps happening. It's very aggressive, there's got to be a demand or maybe poverty or what it is but they are persistent. People don't have a way of living and they come across and see that there's a Chiquibul forest which is a super market - it has forest, wildlife, water, land, soil - which is what they are looking for to plant their crops."

But no matter how many Guatemalans they arrest, charge and get convicted before the courts for breaking Belize's laws, there is always someone else behind to take their place.

Derrick Chan
"We don't usually detain the same person or arrest the same person and what we notice also is that we will detain one guy from Alta Vera Paz and Guatemala is big. It shows that there is a very strong demographic movement in Guatemala and again these people are poor and they are needy - they need to find a way of making a living. Since there's always the moving of people and we don't detain the same persons - the one that got detained, jailed or maybe fined - he goes his way and then someone else will come around."

And so, the organization is recognizing that the message is not being clearly sent:

Derrick Chan
"The incursions continue, perhaps you know Belize is a small country - you will see on the news, most people have a television and hear that somebody was detained. But in Guatemala they don't get the news that someone was detained, arrested and jailed - these are marginal people living in the settlements - in the jungle so they don't know what's going on."

As a result, the FCD recognizes that they need to start a media campaign in Guatemala.

Derrick Chan
"But I think it shows that the awareness needs to be created across there in Guatemala - they won't come across here because this is Belize because they will get arrested, it's a protected area - that is important and I think that's the objective of bringing the media from Guatemala to this area. We have been trying to get that across here and also bring the awareness across in Guatemala and of course that's what the media does. Whoever has to do it across in Guatemala but it has to be done."

Another change that the FCD plans to make is to start raising awareness among other nations, in the hopes of stirring the Guatemalan Government to help in deterring its citizens from making incursions

Derrick Chan
"We are proposing - which Raphael coined as the 'friendship park' (Parque del Amistad) where both countries work towards the same objective of being protected areas. Also providing assistance to the communities across in Guatemala is important."

Rafael Manzanero
"We are saying that Guatemala needs to be able to restrain, be able really to ensure that it's citizens are respecting that border that we have - without that we will continue to see the over flow of people into it. So Guatemala as a government would be required or should be able really to deter their people across the border and that's why we believe that bringing it internationally, is one of the hopes - we are still yet to try it but we are hopeful that it can really bring an international pressure in terms of what a neighboring country is doing to its neighbor by devastating its resources. So we are hopeful that that can be one of the key actions that can really be able to ensure that Guatemala as a country can really deter citizens from continuously being able to just destroy these resources."

But in the meantime, until those strategies are put into action, the FCD recommends an increased presence to try to deter these activities.

Rafael Manzanero
"What we have basically recommended is to put more guys on the ground - the more rangers and more enforcement on the ground then we can do more frequent patrol around the area because the area is so vast there is only so much that we can do. We are to do patrol everyday but certainly there are other areas that we will be required to patrol. So one of the key things that we have been recommending is how are we able to put more guys on the ground in terms of the patrol and be able to conduct the surveillance."

In August the bi-national plan between Belize and Guatemala will be developed for protection of the Chiquibul – and the ceremony will be held in Guatemala.

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