Regional botanical gardeners meet in Cayo
With so much of our country set aside as protected areas, some would argue that Belize is one big botanic garden. But, as I learned today, the concept of a special place to assemble and study the nation’s plant life can be crucial to the future of all those big expanses of green.
Martin Meadows, Belize Botanic Gardens
?You can?t change the world, but you can influence a few people. And if everybody on their piece of land does what they can to help the environment and wildlife, then if all those people do their little bit, then it adds up to a lot.?
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
That?s the main message of regional environmentalists as they meet in the Cayo District this week as part of the second general conference of the Caribbean Botanic Gardens for Conservation.
Judy duPlooy, Director, Belize Botanic Gardens
?It?s a networking group of botanic gardens and so the sharing of human resources and expertise. A lot of gardens in the Caribbean are very under-funded, and so we can help each other by sharing scientific expertise.?
According to Judy duPlooy, Director of the Belize Botanic Gardens, while there is no shortage of bush in Belize, the enclosed environments offer a unique perspective of plants.
Judy duPlooy
?Botanical gardens I think are defined by the fact that they have collections. Within Belize Botanical Gardens, we have five native areas and then we have exotic plant displays. Plants are labelled, every plant and seed that comes into the garden is recorded, which has more to do with science than the public coming to the garden, but it?s of interest to people who really want to look at plants out of their environment so that they can identify plants when they do go out into the bush or be a little bit kinder when they are tramping through the bush.?
The Belize Botanic Gardens was established as a personal project in 1993 by the late Ken duPlooy, covering only five acres. Today, the garden spreads itself over forty-three acres and boasts more than five thousand species. With the help of powerful friends, organisers hope that more gardens will spring up all over Belize. One such project is already budding in Belmopan.
Sharon Palacio, Belmopan City Councillor
?Each child would be able to tell you this is a medicinal plant, this is a beautification whatever. But the idea would be for our youngsters to appreciate the value of our green life and more so give the concept, Garden City, the real garden city. Trees, as our Mayor always say, are the lungs of our city, so the message would be appreciating nature and falling in love with all these trees, protecting them, and make sure they continue for lifetime, but everything green.?
Chad Washburn, Belize Botanic Gardens
?We are hoping with this conference we can do more to use that information to protect some of the plants, we can find out what areas our plants are disappearing, what areas are we seeing invasive plants come in that need to be removed, what plants have been here, and what plants have been introduced that we don?t know about.?
One threatened specie in Belize is the Fishtail Xate, under attack from Guatemalan poachers who harvest its leaves for export abroad as ornamental decoration.
Lloyd Chan, Education Officer, Belize Botanic Gardens
?In the wild, it will take approximately twelve to fifteen months for a seed to germinate naturally, without no methods. This plant that you see here is a female plant with one little seed on it, and this is the same way you are going to see it in the wild when it?s over harvested.?
And while possible extinction of one specie is startling, the remoteness of the area under attack garners very little of the public?s attention.
But that is not the case when it comes to the garbage dump not far away on the Western Highway between the towns of San Ignacio and Benque Viejo del Carmen. Its deplorable condition is a disturbing visual reminder of the fact that the seeds of interest being planted by the botanists must survive this kind of attitude towards the environment.
The Caribbean Botanic Gardens for Conservation was sponsored by Investing in Nature, duPlooy’s Jungle Lodge, and the Belize Botanic Gardens. The conference ends on Saturday.
