The new Belize National Commission for UNESCO was inaugurated today at a ceremony in Belize City. It's actually very similar in membership to the last commission, but the President of the national commission, Education Minister Patrick Faber said that this time the commission has to take a more active role:….
Hon. Patrick Faber: President Nat"l Commission
"And it is an opportunity for us to make a fresh start. A fresh start is needed because of course things change but also because we have tried our best in the past two years to make sure that things that weren't happening would begin to happen and while we have made improvements, it's still did not come up the way we exactly wanted them to come up, we look forward to an invigorating two years, we look forward to improve communication Dr. Brown, because that has been one of the complains as you know we are calling on you again to make sure that this communication exist so that we have new problems in these two years and not old ones. We now know what these issues have been and so we take on the challenge very seriously of dealing with those and moving forward."
The commission members serve for two years.
Faber's commitment to not making the same mistakes again may have something to do with the fact that the National Commission has not been directly involved in the effort to address UNESCO's threat to strip the Belize's Barrier Reef System of its World Heritage status.
A technical committee has been attending to the pressing matter - and we are told - they will send off a final letter to UNESCO next week.
But today the inscrutable national secretary general Dr. David Brown and President Patrick Faber did address the issue today:…
Jules Vasquez
"Will there be a sufficient effective intervention which will make them not delist Belize or the Barrier Reef as a world heritage site?"
Dr. David Brown, UNESCO Secretary General
"I think so. Actually the questions and issues to deal with that we are building with them it will be sufficient enough at least to hold their breath so that we will continue; it's not an easy thing anyway. We will continue working on it but there will be no problem."
Jules Vasquez
"There are fundamental issues such as the granting of concessions for oil drilling within the world heritage site. That was one of the fundamental issues in November. Is there a solution for that? Is there a work around?"
Dr. David Brown, UNESCO Secretary General
"I don't think so. Actually I cannot tackle that issue."
Hon. Patrick Faber
"We are in negotiations, yes they have their rules and they have asked us to do certain things but we are trying to see how we can work with them but there can be no negotiations if there is a hardline position to begin with. We are in dialogue, they have said what they have to say and we are responding. I believe Dr. Brown is correct when he says that as long as we are making efforts."
Jules Vasquez
"But we are making no efforts to prohibit oil exploration on the barrier reef world heritage site."
Hon. Patrick Faber
"I can't understand why you would say that, I am saying concessions have been granted but that does not mean that an OK has been given for people to go and explore, there is a difference. There has to be compliance with the laws that govern the environment in this country."
We hope to have more on the letter from the technical committee next week…
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