The Department of the Environment is updating its policy framework and action plan. Since its establishment in 1992, D.O.E. has formulated four, five-year plans. Today, key stakeholders, including the private sector, N.G.O.s, and line government agencies got together to work on a plan that will ensure sustainable development. Two of the key issues according to […]
For the past fourteen years, May twenty-third has been celebrated as World Turtle Day. The event is primarily to build awareness on the plight of the turtles because the shelled reptile is often the subject of abuse and mistreatment. In Belize, the day presented a perfect opportunity for turtle tagging at the Glovers Reef Marine […]
The names for the 2014 Hurricane Season have been released. The season is less than a week away and already tropical storm Amanda has formed and Accuweather reports that it is located some thirty miles south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. TS Amanda, up to news time, has maximum sustained winds of forty miles per hour and […]
The issue of oil exploration in the south is boiling over, but there is another hot-button matter which is the communities in the south are facing. As we reported on Tuesday, the District Association of Village Councils convened a meeting in Big Falls over the weekend which saw the participation of chairpersons from across Toledo. […]
During a press conference held on Tuesday in the Toledo District, the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, as well as the claimant communities who have been party to the ongoing litigation against the Government and U.S. Capital Energy, a call was made once again for the G.O.B. to comply with the order of the […]
Tonight, there is confirmation that an undisclosed, but significant amount of rosewood has disappeared from the Savannah Forest Station. We say disappeared, but there’s no magic involved, just a Cabinet directive. News Five has been following the chronology of events and came up with this. The rosewood in question, illegally harvested, was confiscated during the […]
While Cabinet’s decision is causing a stink, it has also angered residents of Medina Bank. Viewers may recall that in April, residents of that community acted to seize thirty-one pieces of freshly cut, illegal rosewood. They did it to help Forest Officers, but it was promptly taken away allegedly by the Forestry Department, which claimed […]
There was a large gathering of Maya communities in Punta Gorda today. In fact, leaders and representatives from thirty-eight communities were present for the event in which the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management explained the way forward as it relates to the controversial pre-drilling activities by US Capital Energy. Greg Ch’oc, Executive Director of […]
There is a serious charge being made tonight that the District Association of Village Councils which convened a meeting in Toledo over the weekend is creating division within the Mayan communities in the south, amid the ongoing issue of oil exploration within the Sarstoon Temash National Park. Village leaders are being asked by DAVCO representatives […]
Relations between the government and BGYEA have not always been cozy. In fact, the two have been mostly at odds over a development at the Harmonyville community on the George Price Highway. BGYEA President, Nigel Petillo is the outspoken head of the grassroots organization; this morning, emotions were running high because Cabinet has decided that […]
Following our visit to Harmonyville to get a firsthand understanding of the lay of the land, News Five caught up with Commissioner of Lands and Surveys Wilbert Vallejos. He explained government’s position on the development of the buffer zone, near the mile forty-one community. On Friday, a release was issued announcing Cabinet’s rejection of a […]
Firebrand grassroots activist and president of BGYEA, Nigel Petillo, is again up in arms with the Lands Department over the Harmonyville community near mile forty-one on the George Price Highway. Petillo says that the process of developing the area is continuously frustrated by government which has made it clear that it was BGYEA’s responsibility. But […]
“It is the historical trademark of a corrupt, inept, despotic and discriminatory government.” Stern words coming from the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, in a letter written to Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Tuesday. SATIIM, which represents the villages of Midway, Conejo, Crique Sarco and Graham Creek, is lashing out at the Government of […]
For months, tensions have been mounting between SATIIM, the Sarstoon Temash Institute of Indigenous Management, and US Capital Energy Limited that is carrying out pre-drilling activities within Maya communal lands in the Sarstoon Temash National Park. On Wednesday, despite numerous court rulings affirming the rights of the Maya on communal lands, Government waived the expiration […]
The tapir is the national animal of Belize and rightly so, because the jewel is home to the healthiest tapir population worldwide. To celebrate that notable achievement, the Belize Zoo today held its annual celebration to honor the tapir. The center of attraction at the activities was the young mountain cow Fuego, in the spotlight […]
Torrential rains on Thursday night caused flooding in most parts of the city. The municipal airstrip had to be closed…some schools including St. John’s Sixth Form called off classes and in many areas residents had to wade through water to get out of their homes. While the water has receded from some streets and yards, […]
A delegation of elders from several villages comprising the buffer communities of the Sarstoon-Temash National Park is set to conduct an assessment of oil drilling activities taking place within the protected area on Thursday. The visit, we understand, is being organized by the Maya Leaders Alliance. While an expedition into the area where U.S. Capital […]
Oil drilling is a hot button issue. As it stands, SATIIM is fighting tooth and nail against US Capital Energy for drilling operations within the Sarstoon Temash National Park and Maya communal lands. So the debate is raging or the merits or disadvantages of oil exploration. The Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage enlisted […]
It’s that time again….the National Institute of Culture and History, through the National Celebrations Commission, is launching its annual national song competition. In 2014, however, the commission is for the first time, reaching out to all districts offering workshops prior to live stage performances to the artists and song writers residing in the districts. This […]
On Friday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow told the media that government would not enforce the deadline for U.S. Capital’s existing permit to conduct exploratory work within the Sarstoon-Temash National Park. That license expires on Wednesday. While there have been significant developments on the part of SATIIM, particularly the ejection of Valentin Makin as First Alcalde […]
There is another development in respect of oil drilling in Maya communities which is causing tensions between SATIIM, Government and US Capital Energy. It has to do with the signing of an agreement by Valentin Makin and the oil company. Today, the Conejo village issued a stinging indictment of Makin and threw him under the […]
Despite a ruling handed down by Supreme Court Justice Michelle Arana on April third, US Capital Energy’s pre-drilling activities in the Sarstoon Temash National Park will continue unabated. That’s because government, like SATIIM and U.S Capital, has its own interpretation of the ruling. In a letter dated April twenty-third, attorney Denys Barrow informs SATIIM’s attorney […]
While no one was arrested for the illegal seafood found on the buses, one man, a resident of the Belize River Valley area, was arrested on Wednesday following a patrol of the lagoons and rivers in the Belize District. While he has not been charged, the Fisheries Department claims that he was detained with illegal […]
The Belize Tourism Industry Association which has consistently opposed the Norwegian Cruise Lines port at Harvest Caye is heading to court having exhausted a number of other avenues. It is challenging an environmental appraisal to the fifty million dollar tourism project provided by the National Environmental Appraisal Committee on the grounds that the appraisal did […]
Across the environmental community, organizations are lending full support to the Sarstoon-Temash Institute for Indigenous Management. SATIIM, as well as the five Mayan communities, has proceeded to file an application for an injunction to prevent the Government of Belize from extending a permit granted to U.S. Capital Energy for exploratory work within the Sarstoon-Temash National […]
