PACT Foundation awards grants to six groups
It might seem strange, but for a number of years the United States has been paying Belize, and several other nations in the region, not to cut down trees. The initiative is called the Debt for Nature Swap Programme and was born of an agreement signed between the United States and eleven other countries. For the last seven years, the U.S. Congress has been deducting a portion of the member country’s debt and using the same amount of money to fund conservation initiatives. The PACT Foundation, which is implementing the programme in Belize, today awarded its first set of grants totalling just over two hundred and nineteen thousand dollars to six lucky recipients. News Five’s Jacqueline Godwin was at the Guanacaste National Park for the handing over ceremony.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
The grant awardees include the Ya’axce Conservation Trust which received thirty-nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty dollars to improve the administration and communication systems at the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve.
Thirty-nine thousand, nine hundred and fifty-nine dollars went to the Steadfast Tourism and Conservation Association to develop a management plan for the Billy Barquedier National Park, and the Caye Caulker’s Forest and Marine Reserves Association received twenty thousand, two hundred and sixty-two dollars.
Anna Hoare, Board Chairperson, PACT Foundation
“That grant will serve to provide funding for a programme to restore the forest. So it will also be important because we have to endangered species of birds that live there as well, so it is important that we do conservation work in that area.”
The Aguacaliente Management team is expected to improve its services in the wildlife sanctuary with thirty-nine thousand, nine hundred and fifty-one dollars, while the Itzamna Society was awarded the maximum forty thousand dollar grant to improve park infrastructure and monitoring activities at the Elijio Panti National Park. The Women’s Conservation Group at the Community Baboon Sanctuary will be using their thirty-nine thousand, four hundred and ninety-five dollars to upgrade infrastructure and train staff.
Valdemar Andrade, Executive Director, PACT
“The protected areas system and by extension the conservation community as you see here, which includes the community and organisations working together, literally support three of the major industries in Belize. That is tourism, fisheries, and forestry. These three industries account for approximately five hundred million dollars in revenues per annum, so one can see that the return on investment is tremendous.”
Robert Dieter, U.S. Ambassador to Belize
“The Tropical Forest Conservation Act agreement signed in 2001 is expected to generate some nine million U.S. dollars over twenty-six years for Belize’s forests, conserving thousands of acres of ecologically and economically essential eco-systems.”
Jacqueline Godwin
“Should we expect any more grants to be awarded?”
Anna Hoare
“We will be granting these every year because we have an endowment fund that we are only able to use the interest for the grants, so that endowment fund should serve conservation in perpetuity.”
According to the PACT Foundation, the grants awarded today include funding for project implementation and salaries to bolster the success of the initiatives. Jacqueline Godwin for News Five.
The eleven countries which entered into Debt-For-Nature agreements with the U.S. are Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the Philippines.
