B.N.C.F. Awards $80,000 in Conservation Grants

Today, the Belize Nature Conservation Foundation held a grant signing ceremony at the Guanacaste Park in Belmopan in which approximately eighty thousand dollars was issued to two N.G.O.’s that work in conservation efforts in the Belize and Stann Creek districts.  A News Five team attended the event and reporter Duane Moody files this report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Since 2007, the Belize Nature Conservation Foundation has been issuing grants to N.G.O.s to assist with capacity development and more. It is one of the products that came out of the Tropical Forest Conservation Agreement, or Debt for Nature Swap in 2001. So far, millions of dollars in grants have been issued.

Amanda Acosta

Amanda Acosta, Chair, Belize Nature Conservation Foundation

“What the DNS swab did is it created an endowment fund of which the interest is used for these grants. So the grants are issued annually. We have a call and we issue roughly anywhere based on interest rates from two to four grants per annum.”

The grants, a little less than forty thousand dollars each, were issued to the Billy Barquedier National Park located between miles sixteen and nineteen on the Hummingbird Highway and the Community Baboon Sanctuary Visitor Center and Museum located in Bermudian Landing in the Belize District.

Ardeth McFadzean-Kelly

Ardeth McFadzean-Kelly, Secretary, Community Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Group

“This fund will help us to renovate the new natural historical museum and visitor center. We will use it to upgrade and renew the posters that explains the mission of the CBS. We will also use it to purchase a new electrical water pump and so forth for the center.”

Laura Moore

Laura Moore, Treasurer, STACA

“The grant will be used to strengthen resource management. The main focus is the protection and the proper monitoring of the water. One of the main attractions for Billy Barquedier is the waterfall and the waterfall provides water to three buffer communities. So water protection and monitoring is vital for the three communities in that area. So that is one of the projects that we will continue to do; this fund will just help us to continue that task. The other one is a mammal survey. We are aware that there are several mammals that traverse the park, but we cannot give account of all the mammals so we want to use this fund to conduct that survey so we can have data.”

Having the expertise in the issuing of environmental grants, the Protect Areas Conservation Trust, better known as PACT, is one of the founding members of the B.N.C.F.  Executive Director Nayari Perez speaks of the role it plays annually in the issuing of these grants.

Nayari Perez

Nayari Perez, Executive Director, PACT

“We have been managing their small grants program since the inception. What that entails is the management of the financial resources of the fund as well as the management of their small grants program, the implementation of their projects and the networking and engagement with the project beneficiaries.”

Duane Moody for News Five.