Guatemalans clear over 100 acres of land in Chiquibul

While diplomats on both sides concentrate on taking the Guatemalan dispute to the International Court of Justice, encroachments in Belizean territory by Guatemalans continue to grow by leaps and bounds in the Chiquibul National Park deep in the Maya Mountains. Marion Ali did a fly-over of the reserve today and found that in some areas, some stretches of more than a hundred acres of land have been cleared for farming, logging or by xateros plying their trade.

Voice of Derek Chan, Park Mgr., F.C.D., Chiquibul Natl Park
“Any clearing that you see under the plane and to the east of the plane would be an illegal incursion.”

Marion Ali, Reporting
From the sky these land-clearings in the pristine Chiquibul National Park resemble extra terrestrial markings but they are in fact the work of Guatemalans who are illegally extracting timber or Xate leaves or preparing land for farming.

And there were lots of those that we saw, acres and acres of them some just a quarter mile apart. Park Manager of the Chiquibul National Park, Derek Chan, accompanied us on a fly-over today to get an updated status of just how the situation has deteriorated over the years.

Voice of Derek Chan
“That is approximately some ten acres. Look at this one; this probably is maybe some fifty, a hundred acres maybe. And these ones are active and they are all in the Chiquibul National Park. All those fields there are in Belize. Right below there that is in the Chiquibul National Park and that has just been cleared.”

George Simchuk, a pilot from Lighthawk, a U.S. based non-governmental organization that provides aerial surveillance to domestic N.G.O.’s like Friends of Conservation and Development. He has done the fly-over for two consecutive years and by his observations, Simchuk agrees the incursions are getting worse.

George Simchuk, Volunteer Pilot, Lighthawk
“There is more clearings, yes there is. I could see the clearings from last year, the undergrowth is starting and have seen the results of more recent fires; the ground is black so there has been additional incursions and I presume illegal burnings.”

And it’s because of these incursions that the B.D.F, with the help of conservation agencies, built an observation post at Rio Blanco, some five hundred and thirty-five meters from the border. But while that posting has caused the incursions in that area to cease, it has also resulted in the Guatemalans spreading further out within the reserve in search of the resources they depend on in order to earn a living.

Rafael Manzanero, Exec. Dir., F.D.C.
“They might be moving into other areas that they have not been to before so it something of an ongoing issue, of course.”

Derek Chan
“From time to time we would meet the people there at their corn fields and some of them will run away, some of them will retaliate, some of them just stand there and some people even cry because where we find a corn field, of course we will destroy it because it’s in Belize in the Chiquibul National Park.”

But even though the Guatemalans depend on the natural resources for their livelihoods, Chan says their actions cannot be overlooked.

Derek Chan
“They know they were building this corn field in the Chiquibul National Park.”

Marion Ali
“You sure they know this? They know it’s Belize? Because many of them are educated in school to know that “Belice Es Nuestra”.”

Derek Chan
“Yes that is true. We heard a lot about it. We still see some maps that are built in Guatemala that would include Belize but I’m pretty sure, I think I can safely say that after the agreement that was done, I think it is called the Confidence Building…”

Marion Ali
“And these people in these very remote areas know of the Confidence-Building Measures?”

Derek Chan
“Of course they know because they have all been visited by the property authorities, by the Guatemalan authorities and in the case of the Belize authorities where there are incursions and even by the O.A.S. and they know where the line stands.”

The F.C.D. and their partners in the fight have, since the start of 2009, begun a new programme they feel will at least slow down the rapid rate at which the deforestation is occurring.

Rafael Manzanero
“If we can bring Xate for them to plant under cover in a plantation, if they can have other activities ongoing inside those communities…”

Marion Ali
“Are we doing that or just suggesting it?”

Rafael Manzanero
“We actually are already working with other counterparts in Guatemala to try to facilitate at that level. Because at the end of the day the Xateros say even if we can be caught and have to spend six months in prison, they still want to venture in because they need that local economy.”

If the new programme slows down the encroachments at Chiquibul, then it is the hope of conservationists that the two hundred and forty-six-acre reserve will remain pristine for many more years to come.

Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.