Last night, we told you about the Wilderness and Wellness camp that the Department of Youth services held in the Mountain Pine Ridge area.
And while the gang members from the Southside got to see the majesty and mountains of the MPR Forest Reserve, so will many more Belizeans - because the roads into this exquisite area are being paved.
But, progress can bring problems and the opening of the area has, according to Minister Orlando Habet, led to both littering and vandalism.
It's a problem that the department of forestry has had to combat but that will get a bit easier moving forward thanks to a donation of new monitoring equipment valued at approximately $197,000 and facilitated through the Ministry of tourism. Here's more from today's handing-over ceremony.
Wilber Sabido, Chief Forestry Officer
"The contributions that have come through the sustainable tourism program which is funded by the IDB is a significant investment that is being made in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest reserve which is under administration by the forest department and indeed the fact that we many times are under-resource especially in terms of the equipment needed to move around such a large reserve, especially the 2 ATVs that have been provided will be invaluable for us and certainly the equipment that comes along with it which are the monitoring equipment, the GPS's, the camera systems, the drones - they are important, because for one with the new road that is being built up, through the Caracol upgrade project, we've seen an increase presence by foreign and mostly local visitors."
Hon. Orlando Habet
"In addition to what we are receiving through STP and through the ministry of tourism we also have through the ministry our inputs and from other sources like the Selva Maya, where we have inprove the gate, the building has practically been reconstructed, and the chief and his staff have recently also re-did sort of a part of the co-management that we have with FCD so that they will also help us to manage that area along the ball hills and giving a better access to the Chiquibul."
Hon. Anthony Mahler
"Today is just another step in the partnership that we've created over time. Minister Habet and I work closely together. I just told him that we have another vehicle coming within the next couple months or so to give to the forestry department and so we will continue to work together to make sure that you are equip and the monitoring and the valuation that need to go into a protected area like Mountain Pine Ridge that you have all the necessary equipment necessary to do your work."
Minister of Tourism Mahler also said that since Belize's tourism product is built on both the diversity of our people and the diversity of our spaces, this particular partnership between forestry and Tourism will have to ensure that these protected spaces are used sustainably.
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