Last night, we showed you the back and forth between former Crooked Tree Vice Chairman, Steve Anthony, and the Executive Director of the Belize Audubon Society. As we told you, the Audubon Society's Visitor Center burned down on Saturday morning, and there are residents within Crooked Tree who are saying, "good riddance".
That's because the Belize Audubon and members of the community haven't exactly seen eye to eye, and this destruction has started a conversation on whether or not Audubon must go. Their concern is that the Audubon Society has been too strict in their enforcement against the villagers who depend on fishing, hunting and logging to survive.
Well, today, APAMO came out in support of the Belize Audubon Society.
In a release sent today, APAMO said, quote, "The Association of Protected Areas Management Organizations (APAMO), wishes to express its solidarity with its member, the Belize Audubon Society (BAS)... It is important to note that this facility was instrumental in supporting management activities of this critical RAMSAR site of not only national but global significance. For many years it also served as an exemplary landmark of the community of Crooked Tree Village." End quote.
Acknowledging the dispute with some of the villagers, APAMO says, "We also note the voices of discontent against the presence of the BAS efforts to properly manage the flora and fauna of the sanctuary and their concerns must be addressed if there is to be meaningful community participation in the protection of our national patrimony."
So, what are the core elements of each side's arguments? We have managed to put together the points and counterpoints for and against the Audubon's strict observance of the law. Here's that back and forth:
Steven Anthony - Crooked Tree Villager
"I would really hope that the people of Crooked Tree really consider if we really want Audubon back. We should put out a petition, I'm pretty sure the chairman and the village council will do something to that effect and find out what the people think. Whatever the people think, that's where we're going to go. If they want Audubon back, well welcome back Audubon. If they don't, then we have the capability to run this better than Audubon did."
Amanda Burgos Acosta - Executive Director, Belize Audubon Society
"I do think it's an unfair statement. I think if you look at our audited financials, Crooked Tree has not benefited Audubon as a society, but we are committed to working there because it has ecological value. It has value in terms of the water shed role that it plays. We have contributed to Crooked Tree through the school, we work with the school in different ways and we do work through the village council. We have supported the bird and fish festival along with then and it aligns with our mandate. We try to assist where we can and we do have conversations and agreements that we work on with village council."
Steven Anthony - Crooked Tree Villager
"I feel like we did try to work with Audubon. I personally tried to work with Audubon, but it ended up where it seems like they felt that the invitation that we gave them was like Dracula. You invite us in and we run the place now, no. They're still a guest and one of the things we need to re-negotiate is how much money the village of Crooked Tree get from Audubon annually."
Amanda Burgos Acosta - Executive Director, Belize Audubon Society
"I don't think every individual can benefit, I think in terms of the entrance fees, the fees collected are not nominal and 10% goes back to village council who then has to account for it to the villagers. But it is not that the Belize Audubon is making mountains of money off of that site. As any dramatic event in our life we do take a step back and we take a moment to recuperate. In terms of rebuilding, we would have to talk that through and see what it means, costs and how we would financially write a grant and how we would move forward with that. There is an immediate solution that we're looking at. I think there's bigger conversations to have with the village. I do think that this incident brought up a whole series of emotions, both good and bad. I think we have to move forward very cautiously as to what would be a win-win for everybody."
We're told that the council may be considering a sort of poll from the villagers to gauge their feelings on welcoming Audubon's rebuilding of the facility.
Email
Print