Email

Print

Jules Vasquez reporting
It was a very full room at the Radisson today and it wasn't just folks from the conservation community. The room was full of business people, influencers, an just regular folks with an interest in Chiquibul and it's obviously a lot of people, it was standing room only and the amazing part is - they kept standing for more than four hours. And that's because after years of news stories and public education - Chiquibul is in the national spotlight and now it's time to harness that awareness into action and the galvanizing calls is as simple as water like this one that runs through the Chiquibul cave system:

Hon. Lisel Alamilla - Ministry of Forestry
"In fact for the people in Belize City - your water originates from the Chiquibul and it makes and meanders all the way down into Belize City. If we don't protect the Chiquibul - Belize City you are going to be in problems and maybe you'll want to move to Punta Gorda."

Percival Cho - Chiquibul Expert
"So, people from Guatemala to Belize City all drink from Chiquibul's rain which is a rain forest. We all depend on it for life sustaining water."

But, it's not only water, as Chiquibul expert Percival Cho explained, the material and economic benefits of Chiquibul can be quantified.

Percival Cho
"Material, gold, xate and timber is worth about $2.1 Billion Belize dollars. Every year because of anual interest through growth we increase that value by $3 million dollars. The natural wealth, water and so fort is worth to me more than $1.3 billion dollars but we can put that figure on it. Cultural at the moment, $81,000 a year - so the grand total, if you indulge me a little bit, will be about $3.4 billion Belize dollars - I think it's much more than that, I'm sure it's much more than that; that's one and a half times the GDP of Belize. Who knew a piece of bush worth so much."

As this satellite image illustrates the left side where all the green has been stripped is Guatemala - the greens side is Belize.

Percival Cho
"There's a high probability that in ten years time, if we do nothing, that is what will happen to the Chiquibul - we will loose half of it. This is equivalent to the rate that was occurring here. And in 20 years time we will loose the other half."

According to Rafael Manzanero, it is advancing:

Rafael Manzanero - Executive Director, Friends For Conservation And Development "We documented 43 points milpas for this year alone."

Major Lloyd Jones (Ret'd)- Discussant
"We have ignored the advice of the people on the ground- we have ignored the advice of the Belize Defence Force and so now we end up with what is a national crisis. What is going on in the Chiquibul in my view is nothing short of a national embarrassment - it is a failure to act properly and quickly and unless we find the courage and the will to take the action that is needed, at next year's symposium - the picture is going to be bleaker. In 1995 we deployed the Belize Defence Force to the streets of Belize so we shifted the defence from its primary task of defence of the country to assisting the police in maintaining law and order in Belize City. This has been the consequence of that decision. This in my view is hinged on an undeclared policy of appeasement when it comes to Guatemala. If we are going to fix this Chiquibul problem - we have to now transition from a policy of appeasement to a policy of containment. We have got to establish a line somewhere - we see now that there are 15km inside of Belize, we have to establish a line and to make sure that there are no further encroachment occurring."

Manzanero says the most urgent problem right now is Milpa Farming - which the BDF commander agrees with after a recent over-flight:

Rafael Manzanero
"We are recommending, apart from the illegal logging, apart from the gold panning - we are saying Milpas is the one that has not been addressed to the extent. I know the Belize Defence Force was recently there but in reality only about 40% of those Milpas could have really been destroyed. Not because the will is not there but it's the share of man power it is going to require to get rid of a Milpa of 87 acres or 120 acreas that is still out there right now. How many people are willing to say that they are going there to chop those crops."

Brig. Gen. David Jones - Commander, BDF
"When I took that flight it was alarming - the amount of clearing, planting, encroachment, illegal logging in the Chiquibul at this time. Some of the Milpas Mr. Manzanero spoke about - we destroyed from the 1st - 7th June about 11 of these Milpas - they range from 2 areas to 20 acreas in size. This is what our soldiers have been doing - a lot of acres of farming we destroyed in the area."

Of course, Milpa farming is just one problem and the question that was wrestled with today was how to stop them all.

Wilbur Sabido - Chief Forest Officer
"We have to tackle these actions simultaneously - we cannot be cherry picking of what is the least conflictive activity that we would want to address on any given day."

One of the most interesting models put forward is bi-national partnership:

Roan Balas - Wildlife Conservation Society, Guatemala
"The good news folks is that a lot of interest that is now growing on the Guatemalan side of the border is to begin dealing with these issues. One thing that is readily evident is that this is a program that Belize has to tackle immediately but it cannot do so only by itself. We need to be positive engagement on both sides of the border and there is a lot of civil society interest - a municipal government who enters on the Guatemalan side of the border to begin dealing with these issues."

Rafael Manzanero
"There is no way the Belize can become isolated in dealing with this problem. I mostly thank the NGO's that have practically embraced us. I must admit that progress - I was really afraid - we have elements of Guatemala coming to Belize because I was afraid that the counter parts from Guatemala would have had a higher level of hatred and they would curse me but in reality that has never happened - in fact we have embraced that idea that we have to work together."

Wilbur Sabido
"At this point we're at a really critical juncture in terms of Chiquibul - in terms of what it is to address in the Chiquibul and I think that after all the presentations and all the different issues may seem daunting. I think that once we are able to clearly define which entity is reponsible for what actions - there has to be some conserted level of effort to carry out these actions."

Brig. Gen. David Jones
"The Belize Defence Force cannot do it alone - no single organization in this country can do it alone. You cannot blame and accept that only the government can do it - it is going to be a collective effort."

But who will steer the effort?

Brig. Gen. David Jones
"Two things that need to happen - There needs to be a policy and what should happen in that area. which there should be a political directive. There has to be guidance from the top - that policy needs to be driven and supported by a strategy."

Audrey Wallace - CEO, Office of the Prime Minister
"We have resolved for some time now that we would have internationalize the nature of the problem - we must let the world know that we're doing everything we can to protect these Natural Assests but that in the face of sustained and increasing threats - we cannot do it alone, we must raise international awareness. To this end, we have held discussions with the British, with the Guatemlans and the OAS. We expect that an international conference to raise global awareness will be held in London later this year."

Valerie Woods - Symposium Organizer
"The challenge now is exactly as we've been discussing back stage. What do we do with the recommendations and the commentary by the way by some of the panelists and put it in a format that we can present to government and all authorities and say 'ok guys we can't bite off everything, we know that' for all the reasons that have been stated. What next small focus brainstorming sessions can be done to attack this area, that suggestion and recommendation."

The symposium will be reviewed and then the organizers will decide if it CAN BE an annual event.