Minister signs long-term forestry licenses for Toledo

This morning in Belmopan, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Johnny Briceño signed two long-term forest licenses. The forty-year agreements will allow Thomas Gomez and Sons Limited and Bartholomew Young to log ninety-seven thousand acres of the Deep River Forest Reserve and sixty-seven thousand acres in the Swasey/Bladen Forest Reserve in the Toledo District. According to Briceño, the new licenses are part of a plan that will promote the improved management of Belize’s forests.

Johnny Briceño, Min. of Natural Resources
“We used to give licenses for a year, two years, three years; people go in and they basically rape the land. They take out all the logs and they move away without thinking about the future. So what we’re trying to do now, the whole idea behind a long-term management plan is that we are going to select a company that we believe is committed in the area and for them to manage those forests for the next forty years. It’s not for them just to go and cut, they have to come up with a management plan that both Forestry Department and them would agree to.”

“These two individuals, they are small companies that live in the Toledo District, they are committed to the Toledo District, so I think that is the first thing that we need to understand. But secondly, we believe that because these companies are going to be there for the next forty years, then it will allow them to be able to develop their business better, to think beyond just cutting the trees and the lumber and exporting it, but how it is that they can add value to what they do.”

According to the ministry, the agreements call for enforcement of strict environmental practices and sustainable management of timber and non-timber resources. New long-term licenses are also being considered for the Maya Mountain North and Sittee River Reserves, as well as private lands in the Yalbac area.