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FCD Says 18 Million in Hardwood Stolen From Chiquibul
posted (August 27, 2015)
The Friends for Conservation and Development or FCD as they are known, the co-managers of the Chiquibul National Park, released their annual report today on illegal logging activities in the protected area.

Their estimate is that from 2010 to 2012 4.248 million US dollars' worth of Cedar has been illegal cut, and 5.199 million US dollars' worth of Mahogany has been illegally harvested. That's a total of $18.89 million Belizean dollars that has been lost from the Chiquibul. First off, the good news is that there have not been any visible signs of illegal logging since September of 2014. But the bad news is that's probably because all the logs close to the border have already been illegally extracted and the poachers would have to come too deep into Belize to find more. But, no doubt, it's also because there are a greater number of park rangers and security forces patrolling the Chiquibul.

Still, the present illegal logging zone, which has not increased, is measured at 45,567 hectares - or approximately 176 square miles.

Overall, the area impacted by illegal logging has increased by a factor of 2.5 between 2010 and 2015. The report notes that the present illegal logging zone of impact is 45,567 hectares or 4.4 times the size of the Caracol Archaeological Reserve. And the numbers? Well, they are staggering! Overall, a total of 8.7 million board feet of lumber have been illegally extracted from the Chiquibul Forest, having with an estimated monetary value of $18. 8 million US, or 37.6 million Belize dollars.

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