Well, while that debate was raging in Belmopan on Monday, the Protected Areas Conservation Trust was holding its annual investments award ceremony. It's an event where the Trust publicly unveils which non-governmental organizations have been chosen to receive funding for conservation purposes. This time around, PACT is disbursing 1.1 million dollars under its new category system: the single and multiple investment categories. The keynote speaker for this award ceremony was Dr. Omar Figueroa, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. Here's and excerpt of his remarks:

Under PACT's new the single category, grant awardees are only able to access a maximum of 100 thousand dollars. The awardees in this category were Program for Belize, the Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development, and the Southern Environmental Association.

Under the multiple investment category, PACT grant recipients are awarded with a funding envelope of 400 thousand dollars. Under this category, the Yaxache Conservation Trust, the Belize Audubon Society and the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment all received one funding envelope.