Today the Protected Areas Conservation Trust handed awarded four conservation organizations a total of $2.28 million dollars in funding. Each organization mainly operates in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, Belize's largest national park. The investment is part of the Chiquibul Forest Investment Initiative, through which the government plans to provide $15.8 million dollars to safeguard the park. We spoke to representatives of the Ministry of Forestry as well as one of the award recipients to find out how the money will help the conservation efforts...
Dr. Colin Young, CEO, Ministry of Forestry
"Today we had the grant award ceremony for what we call the Chiquibul Forest Investment Initiative. We disbursed approximately 2.5 million dollars today to 4 organizations. To Friends for conservation and Development that manages the Chiquibul National Park, they got about $770,000 Dollars. The Belize Forest Department about $570,000. Ya'axché Conservation Trust that manages the Bladen Nature Reserve and the Columbia Forest Reserve, they got $400,000 and the Belize Defense Force got a cheques for $434,000."
Alex Courtenay, 7News
"This is a lot of money being distributed among these conservation groups. Where are we looking for these funds to go on? What should they be helping with?"
Dr. Colin Young, CEO, Ministry of Forestry
"All of Belize will know that the Chiquibul is a very dangerous and vulnerable part of the country. The enforcement initiatives on the ground require lots of money, their very expensive. From this investment initiative, we're paying the ranger salaries for the 2 co-managers for the 2 full years. This allows them to have continuous boots on the ground to prevent the incursions by Guatemalans and others who are doing illegal hunting, poaching, gold-mining, agricultural incursions. In addition, we are purchasing land rovers for the Belize Defense Force along with communication equipment as well as other tools that they need to better do their jobs. Most importantly, we are constructing 2 brand new conservation posts that will be manned by BDF soldiers, Forest Department officers and rangers from the co-management organizations as well as constructing 18 kilometers of road access."
Hon. Omar Figueroa, Min./State. Min. of Forestry
"Illegal incursions is one of the main threat to the biodiverse to the ecological and functional integrity of these protected areas. So our investment has to focus in large part on enforcement and so of course enforcement means that we need to have more boots on the ground. A big part of this investment will bring in more rangers to patrol, so FCD, Ya'axché, the Forest Department will actually have more rangers out there patrolling on a daily basis working along hand in hand with the BDF."
Raphael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD
"The finances that we got is basically to support the program of enforcement and monitoring in the Chiquibul. Also to assist in terms of a community development program in the Vaca forest reserve which is basically another protected area located north of the Chiquibul Forest. What we're going to do is basically construct 2 other conservation posts. We have a lease in the Chiquibul which is under the Administration of the Friends for Conservation Development. We have Tapir Camp which is a conservation post then we have Cebo Chico and Rio Blanco. We are going to be building another 2 of them so in those locations we will be able to put rangers on the ground. These funds will be able to support that kind of presence on the ground."
The Chiquibul makes up almost 8% of Belize's national territory, and is one of the areas most susceptible to illegal encroachment.
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