Residents of Hopkins fight beach destruction
Disputes over how land in Belize is developed are nothing new. But while recent squabbles over the Chalillo Dam and Western Highway landfill have involved government and environmental groups, the latest fight pits angry residents of a seaside community against private landowners. Janelle Chanona reports on the battle for the beach in Hopkins Village.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
It is a scene that has come to dominate much of Belize’s coastline…developers clearing beachfront properties to subdivide into lots, or reconfigure to accommodate tourists. But this week one pair of developers working in the seafront village of Hopkins has fallen into a quicksand of controversy.
According to the villagers, extensive clearing done in the northern end of the community is not only illegal, but has already severe erosion in the area.
Macario Augustine, Hopkins Village Councillor
“The essential problem with it is that the sixty-six feet is reserve, it’s government property, it’s for public access, he shouldn’t have touched that any at all. So he had cleared that sand from the sixty-six feet to fill his property.”
The villagers took their case to Belmopan where officials from the Department of Environment found that no permits for the work or environment clearance had been granted and ruled that the work of the bulldozers had crossed into the reserve, increasing the chances of erosion and damage to other property owners. On August fifteenth, D.O.E. issued orders to owners Rosita Estrada and Herman Haney to immediately restore the beach to its original height, including the sand dunes and vegetation.
Six days later the big machines were back…but not to follow D.O.E. orders, rather, those of Herman Haney.
Question:
“What are all those bulldozers doing here?”
Herman Haney, Developer
“We’re working.”
Question:
“Working on what?”
Herman Haney
“My property. “
Question:
“Your property, but doing what?”
Herman Haney
“Leveling and cleaning, covering up all the mosquito holes so that the dengue fever won’t come get the citizens.”
Levelling and cleaning, not restoring…and the Hopkins villagers weren’t having it.
Question:
“But why are all those people angry?”
Herman Haney
“I didn’t know they were angry. They’re all laughing…look at them, photograph them, they’re all laughing they’re happy. It’s the best thing that’s happened in the village for years.”
Villager
“If you have common sense you don’t do things like that to the environment. I mean you got to do things with common sense no matter how much money you have, because money don’t worth anything sometimes. So let go back, let him find somewhere else, find something to go do.”
Who is supposed to do something about the situation is the Department of the Environment.
Jorge Franco, Department of the Environment
“We had done several assessments before. Mr. Haney was advised to cease work in the immediate area. And hydrology and department will be coming down or should be coming down to do an assessment to see if the removal of the sand dunes, the ancient sand dunes, which is the area that is being sited as or is expected to be used to restore the beach. But the Village Council members now were out here today and they are saying that that’s not feasible. So we’re going to do a proper assessment before Mr. Haney can actually go in there and touch those ancient sand dunes to restore any beach.”
And no doubt these vigilant villagers will keep the bulldozers back until those assessments are completed. They maintain that they are not against development in their community; they just want it done right.
Macario Augustine
“He has been ordered to replace the sand that he had removed from the reserve and he still refusing to do that, so I believe… we are not against him per se, but I believe that he should do things by procedure and principles. That’s all we’re asking of.”
Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
According to Jorge Franco from the Department of the Environment, government officials from the departments of hydrology, geology and lands as well as representatives of non-governmental agencies like the Coastal Zone Management Authority will be working in Hopkins to resolve this situation.
