PACT launches protected areas policy project
It’s a sentence that’s on just about every brochure about Belize…forty-two percent of our natural resources are protected. And although numerous studies have been conducted to highlight that fact, there has never been an effort to put together a protected areas policy and system plan to ensure that Belize’s resources are being properly managed…that is until now. The Protected Areas Conservation Trust has enlisted a group of professionals to come up with just such a policy. The task force’s challenging project was launched today in Belize City. According to Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Johnny Briceño, the task force will look for ways to stimulate economic activity while conserving Belize’s beauty.
Johnny Briceño, Min. of Natural Resources and Environment
“Do we have too much, too little. In many instances, you can never have too much. Look at it in this perspective El Salvador is about the size of Belize, they have about seven million people living in El Salvador. We have two hundred and fifty thousand. So the more we can protect, a better job we can be doing for our children and grandchildren who are going to come. I firmly believe that God has blessed us with this wonderful natural beauty that we have, and unless we find ways to protect it we are going to lose it. I firmly believe that the greatest threat to conservation, to the environment is poverty. And until we can get to the communities that live around these areas truly involved where they can benefit, and financially they can benefit from having these protected areas in their area, we will lose that battle. So our goal is to ensure that we can have inclusion, not only on a national level, not only by NGOs, but even by the communities.”
Research conducted reveals that to date Belize has almost two million acres of terrestrial reserve, four hundred thousand acres of marine reserve, and an additional three hundred thousand acres protected through private conservation initiatives. The task force is chaired by PACT’s Valerie Woods and members include Osmany Salas, Tracy Taegar, Edilberto Romero, and Valdemar Andrade.
