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PACT the Protected Area Conservation Trust gathers its funds from the PACT fee that tourists pay when they leave the country. And as the name clearly states, those monies should go towards protected areas. But, according to PACT board member Amanda Acosta who represents NGO's on that board, they haven't been giving away any money for protected areas management to co-managers for 2 years.

But in May that same PACT fund became a platinum sponsor for the Belize International Music and Food Festival with a non recoverable contribution of fifty thousand dollars.

And in February, the Ministry of Finance asked PACT two make a grant contribution of 370 thousand dollars to build an access road in the Corozal Free Zone.

So, what gives?

That's what APAMO's 16 conservation co-managers are asking. They explained at a press conference today:

Abandoning quiet, patient negotiation, APAMO, the The Association of Protected Areas Management Organizations held a press conference asking, "Is Government Changing the Role of Co-Managers?"

They're concerned about the revision of these two pieces of legislation, the National Protected Areas System Act and the PACT act.

Amanda Acosta, PACT Board Representative - NGO's "We have reached out all the way to the top expressing our concerns, we have written, in fact the 22nd of June we actually wrote the Ministry of Sustainable Development with our concerns on these pieces of legislation. Up to now, we have not received any response, we have not even received acknowledgment of our correspondence."

So now they're turning up the pubic pressure:

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director of the Belize Audubon Society
"Earlier in the year, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Climate Change had information sessions. For those of you who were astute at looking who attended there was very, very minimal, if any, attendance at these sessions. The reality was because we were given extremely short notice, the legislation, in particular the National Protected Area System Bill, changes the dynamic of how we work."

Christina Garcia, YA'AXCHE CONSERVATION TRUST
"We have not been a part of the conversation. I have been in conservation for the past 20 years and usually legislations are developed and then there's no consultations that happen, no meaningful consultations that have happened."

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director of the Belize Audubon Society
"If you are getting into the point of micromanagement, wanting to know what time we will open and we have to report those things, the the legislation, the bill gets into a degree of minutia I have never seen before."

"It gives a very strong authoritarian feeling."

Maria Garcia, Chairperson Itzamna Society
"And we co-manage the Eligio Panti National Park, which is 13,600 acres of land. And we are not new in this we have been, you know, looking after this sacred land for more than…it's part of our nature, like Indigenous people, you know, part of our culture, we inherited the land from our ancestors and we are the caretakers. So when we see things like this, it makes our heart sad because we have been taking care of, you know, the forest, long before anybody. And I think the only people that can really take care of these lands with all their hearts are the people, local people, the people that live in the area. Those are the ones the caretakers, the real caretakers."

"We only ask, you know, the leaders, to humble themselves, humble this type of legislation, make it to our level because we are not taking from persons we are hardworking people on the ground and we do things with our hearts."

"So we ask the prime minister too, to have a close look at this legislation."

"We are not the left hand. We are his right hand, taking care of these protected areas."

And more than just that conservation ethos, APAMO's 16 members and its 270 employees also have clout:

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director of the Belize Audubon Society
"Budgetary, APAMO contributes to the system's $16 million per annum per annum."

"This is not a small number when we compare it to the government's contribution specifically to protected areas, it is significant." `

"If I add in this full composite of the 21 NGOs, you are talking $21 million coming into this or that is going into protected areas across the country."

"we are partners in the co-management of protected areas. A top down approach does not work because we are contributing more than our share towards this system."

And they point to the recent Wildfires to underscore the critical role that co-managers play:

Maria Garcia, Chairperson - Itzamna Society
"Look at the fire that just happened. Who was there? The caretakers of all these protected areas. because the government didn't have enough people to help."

Eli Miller, Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
"The best capacity for fire suppression and fire management in Belize rests with our co management entities, they have rangers who deal with fire on an annual basis and that's where the knowledge lies."

"The Rangers are working on the ground. They don't have holidays and they don't do it for the money."

But even with all that firefighting, Government still didn't consult. And so now, PACT is going public to demand that the ministry come and talk to them:

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director of the Belize Audubon Society
"So our "ask" really as part of our letter submitted to the government and making it public today is that we want to start having active engagement, active participation in the conversation. These bills need significant work."

"We are going to start coordinating with the larger collective because as he's pointing out here, we are not the only ones who are kind of shouting and screaming and being ignored."

"There is there is a lot happening within the environmental sector, conservation sector that we need to get fully involved together about. But yes, there will be next steps."