Viewers know very well how hard Rafael Manzanero and his team from the Friends for Conservation and Development work to try and protect the Chiqiubul National Park from deforestation and illegal encroachments. FCD is always looking to form useful partnerships, and on Tuesday, the conservation NGO officially teamed up with the UK-based company, Selvana Limited, for what is being called the Maya 2020 Project.
A press release from the Government says that Maya 2020 is a project in which FCD and Selvana will collaborate to meet the sustainable forest conservation objectives of FCD.
On Tuesday in London, FCD's Rafael Manzanero and Selvana's Chris Minty, signed an agreement making the partnership official, and Belize's High Commissioner to the UK, Perla Perdomo London, witnessed the event.
Minty is quoted as saying, "This rainforest is particularly important as it provides critical habitat for countless rare and endangered species… It also regulates local and regional climates and soaks up carbon gases from the atmosphere, an essential process to help combat global warming."
The Maya 2020 project is the origin of a new approach to halting illegal activities within the Chiquibul. Remote sensing and acoustics technology will be installed in the park and it will be connected through a network to the internet, which will allow observers to be able to monitor activity in the forest in real-time from anywhere in the world, all the time.
At the launch, Manzanero was quoted saying, "we are delighted to be working with the Cornish team in the challenging task of protecting this forest. Modern technology, if used appropriately, will be a great addition to our strategic conservation management of the Chiquibul and greatly assist our park rangers in their day to day duties".
The initiative was recently endorsed by no less than the Queen, through the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy Initiative. It was launched on Tuesday at Buckingham Palace, and it has the endorsement of the Belize Government, the Belize Commission in London, and Rainforest Concern, a UK Charity which helps to conserve rainforests.
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