PACT awards to conservation agencies
If you’ve ever wondered what happens to the environmental tax tourists pay at the airport or the fees you pay to visit national parks or archaeological sites, well today some of that money was distributed to agencies which will put it to good use. The largest award of over 100 thousand dollars from the Protected Areas Conservation Trust, better known as PACT, went to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment. The National Parks Policy Committee received ten thousand dollars for the development of a parks policy, the Belize Zoo and Tropical Research Center will use 25 thousand for environmental posters, and the Belize Audubon Society has been given 35 thousand for a public awareness campaign. The Sibun Watershed Management is going to develop a unique traveling classroom with its almost 25 thousand dollar grant. The tent and displays will visit many of the schools in the Watershed’s eleven communities and teach the students about environmental monitoring and protected areas. PACT’s Humberto Paredes says that although the Belize Audubon Society and Belize Zoo are well-established agencies, community groups are especially encouraged to apply for the funds. He told us about the criteria and the assistance available. Since they got the largest grant today, News Five also asked Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources David Aguilar how the funds will be used by their four departments.
Humberto Paredes, PACT
“Focal areas for grants are protected areas management, community involvement in the management of protected areas, eco-cultural tourism as it relates to protected areas and the management of archeological sites. NGOs, individuals and communities can apply for these grants. In particular, however, we would like to encourage communities and small rural groups to apply for grants and get involved in the management and conservation of our protected areas and natural heritage.”
Q: “For a group that has never applied for something like this, what kind of assistance can you offer them in formulating the proposal?”
Humberto Paredes
“Our office, the Protected Areas Conservation Trust, is fully equipped to assist small groups in particular in filling out our forms, in designing their accounting records to only monitor their criteria. We are prepared to assist them from the idea stage up to the implementation stage.”
David Aguilar, P.S., Natural Resources
“The money will be used to train staff. We feel that in order to get the message across in terms of matters concerning environment, land, conservation, the staff has to be fully appraised of what the functions of the Ministry are and the way we see to do it is to get them motivated and involved. We feel that by training them in these areas they can help to make the public aware of what we are trying to achieve.”
The Chairman for PACT’s Board of Directors, Patty Arceo presented the checks this morning. So far PACT has made 15 grants to conservation organizations and agencies. If your organization is interested in applying for a PACT grant you can contact their Project Officer at their offices on Mango Street in Belmopan.
