Minister Alamilla says APAMO’s conservation action plan is “ambitious”
Lisel Alamilla
On March thirtieth, the Association of Protected Areas Management Organization, APAMO, met with Minister Lisel Alamilla where it unveiled an action plan for conservation efforts. The proposal is to have government address what are primarily described as legislative changes to the forestry and fisheries acts. Those amendments, APAMO suggested, should be made during a short and long term period. We caught up with the Minister today while she met with personnel from the Fisheries side of her ministry. Alamilla told News Five that the plan is too ambitious and has suggested instead that a working party be organized to make the plan practical.
Lisel Alamilla
“What I had asked them to do, and I don’t know if they have moved forward with that, is to set up a taskforce to go through the plan and make it more realistic and achievable so that we don’t disappoint them because a lot of it is legislative. It requires change in legislation and when you do that you have to consult, for example the Fisheries Act that we’re going to be tabling soon took over two years for the consultation and the writing up of that act. So those are the things that the conservation community is cognizant of but will have to be reminded about. The other things that are simple [are]: the memorandum of understanding, co-management agreement, those things are, I think, will be far more achievable in a short term. Again, most of these decisions have to go to Cabinet and so it’s dependent upon the response of my colleagues and the feedback that I receive from them but I am committed to moving them through the system as far as I can take them.”
Alamilla was recently short-listed as one of seven finalists for the notable Whitley Award, an honor bestowed upon conservationists worldwide. The nod comes as a result extensive work Alamilla has done with the Ya’axche Conservation Trust during her tenure as executive director. Should she win the prestigious award the prize money will be granted to the Ya’axche Conservation Trust to continue its work in the south.
