7 News Belize

Smoke Smothers Cayo District
posted (April 21, 2020)
Turning now to other national news.

For the past few days, we've been telling you about the polluted air that is smothering Cayo district residents. They complain that there are still people setting bonfires, in open defiance of the Ministry of Environment's public demands to stop. All that smoke from those fires is sitting over major communities, polluting the air. Today, NASA detected 190 fires via satellite; that is up from 181 yesterday.

Air quality tests done in Belmopan early this morning, show particles in the air metering at 198 - which is in the unhealthy range. Apart from being unhealthy, the public health worry is that the smoke could make residents more susceptible to the coronavirus.

Sensing the urgency, the Government has drafted a statutory instrument to criminalize starting fires during the state of emergency. That SI, seen here, was Gazetted today, which officially makes burning fires illegal at this time.

That SI says quote, "During the period of the public emergency, no person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit open-burning of any refuse or combustible matter on any private land or public land." End quote.

"Combustible matter" is interpreted to mean bush, a milpa, an agricultural field, pastures, grass, or vegetation. And, this one can be enforced by police. If you are caught by police with a bonfire on your property, you can be arrested and charged for it, and you are liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

The SI also says, quote, "notwithstanding regulation 3, the open-burning of sugar cane fields, prior to the harvesting of sugar cane is not prohibited." End quote. We are told that this exemption carve-out was included for the benefit of the northern cane farmers who burn their fields before harvesting.

It does not exempt anyone from post-harvest burning, which is what Santander Sugars, the cane millers in Western Belize, was allegedly doing. We understand that they were issued with a pollution abatement order to stop burning.

But, some residents suggest that this SI is a little too late as smoke continues to choke the communities in Western Belize.

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