Ya’axche Sounds Urgent Call for Help with clearings in M.M.N.F.R.
Tonight, we take you to Toledo where another protected area is under threat from Guatemalans illegally clearing large swaths of Belizean land. The Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve incursions are happening just a few miles into the forest and the Ya’axche Conservation Trust has disturbing drone footage to prove it. Reporter Andrea Polanco tells us more in the following story.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
There are land clearings happening inside the Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve. This is a protected area that has multiple uses, including a thriving and model agro-forestry cacao concession. But the encroachments are inching closer and managers of this protected area are worried. YCT’s Executive Director Christina Garcia says it’s the work of Guatemalans.
Christina Garcia
Christina Garcia, Executive Director, Ya’axche Conservation Trust
“It is quite alarming, Andrea, because we have never seen this magnitude of clearings within that area. It is quite worrisome because I must point out that these clearings are being done by none Belizeans; just the way the clearing is located; just the way the methods are being used to clear we automatically. That map gives you an idea – I think the area in green is the agro-forestry concession and so it is really accessible. From the time you arrive at the reserve you walk about fifteen minutes and you will already be viewing some of these clearances.”
In 2015, there was a de-reservation of some two thousand three hundred and ten acres in this protected area. Since then the land clearing has escalated. Some two hundred and thirty acres of that de-reserved plot have already been cut down. With the use of drone photography, Ya’axche Conservation Trust documented this as recently as two weeks ago. Garcia says these illegal acts pose a number of hazards to the protected area and the buffer communities.
Christina Garcia
“The contamination of the water source is another big problem that we are very concerned because we see that the level of clearing happening in that area are all for cattle ranching. They are cutting lines within the area they are clearing that leads all the way to the river and the reason for doing that is because they are taking their cattle to drink from the river and so you have cattle trampling in the river and defecating in the river. So, you have over three thousand people that depend on that that water source and these are all communities along the Trio River. So, it is affecting their livelihoods ad well too because back in the days when we started doing patrols within that area in 2012 the rangers could have drank water from that area and it was quite safe and now we can’t do that anymore. So, it is problem on top of problem within that area. Now what we are very worried about is that we know that the dry season is coming in and the clearing has happened and we know that these people have all intentions of burning and if that fire is not managed or controlled, it could have detrimental effects to the reserve because right now everything is dry and so it is like a fuel right now and so we are very fearful that if nothing is done we will be having that that reserve on fire.”
That would be disastrous for this protected area and, by extension, Belize. It would mean loss to critical biodiversity, as well as wiping out of investments made by Ya’axche Conservation Trust. YCT says they need urgent support from government bodies like the forest department and B.D.F.
Christina Garcia
“This situation is escalating and it needs some level of control. The Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve is a key Biodiversity. It is very important. We only have six key biodiversity areas in the country and Maya Mountain North is one of them. If we don’t do anything to salvage that reserve at the moment, I am afraid we are going to lose what we already have and we are going to lose the investment that has been pumped into that model and also the efforts that we have placed within maintaining the integrity of that forest reserve. What we need is the forest department support on the ground because we already know who these individuals are. They have been provided with the names, the address, and so it is a matter of them getting an eviction letter at the moment from the forest department saying that it is illegal to be in that area and they need to get out. Like I said, the majority of people that are encroaching in the area are non-Belizeans and we know that for a fact. We also need the support from the BDF because the area is very hostile. So, our rangers they need the support from the regulatory agencies and B.D.F. to conduct more patrols within that area.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
These encroachments began to grow when a plot was de-reserved and there was no proper land distribution or management put in place.
