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FCD Executive Director Rafael Manzanero also gave us an update on what trends they have been noticing recently in the Chiquibul and some of the improvements they have seen. Manzaenro also discussed the illegal activities in the Vaca Forest reserve that haven't been properly addressed. 

Rafael Manzanero - Executive Director, FCD
"The Chiquibul is always a dynamic situation. Chateros, illegal logging is no longer a problem in the Chiquibul, the terminology of chater is just remaining on the minds of Belizeans now and in the vocab of Belizeans but in reality we do not really have any major significant problems with chateros today. We have still have a problem with gold panning however, the minister was able to outline clearly which we are grateful he made that note that cattle ranching is also a problem. We just made an overflight yesterday over the Western border way down by tree tops and what we can see very clearly is that yes there are cattle ranches occurring on the ground. So we hope that it can be addressed, we have it can be contained as soon as possible because this really will be a dramatic problem for Belize. We have been seeing this over the last 2 years and so cattle ranching is still an issue out there. In terms of agricultural farming, as a result of the conservation posts, there have been a reclamation of the territory by some 25% at this point. We still a lot much more work to do but certainly you consider recovery of the the forest, the reclamation of the forest that are returning back again by some 25%. The VACA is exactly 17 kilometer of the Western border, that's around Benque Veijo, all of that area there. What happens there is really one that pretty much has not been documented well but we can tell you clearly that human trafficking, contraband, drugs is occurring there, cattle ranching, a whole handful of things that are taking place there. So this protocol also orients for the joint forces unit to be able to start also doing work in that zone."

Manzanero says they hope to reduce these encroachments by 15 percent in the next 3 years.