To many of you watching this, the news that a new Miss Belize was crowned today will come as a big surprise. The venue was the Belize Zoo and Education Center and the occasion was a very special one – the thirtieth birthday of a celebrity who over the years has become the face of […]
An unsanctioned development project that threatens the environment on Little Iguana Caye in the Bacalar Chico area of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye has been discovered by authorities. The Department of the Environment and other government agencies have moved swiftly to halt that project by U.S. investors because the requirement process in respect of EIAs and […]
The Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage has issued a press release on claims made by representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology and Public Utilities in regards to offshore zoning. The Ministry representatives appeared on our morning show last week. The coalition is taking issue with statements made by the ministry that […]
While officialdom continues to hide behind press releases vowing that no freshly cut rosewood will be exported and all who cut rosewood during the amnesty will be punished forthwith, credible sources continue to tell News Five that there is a veritable rosewood cutting frenzy in southern Belize. Our source tells us that just today, a […]
The public furor over government’s rosewood amnesty has not died down. In fact, on Friday the flames were fanned by a very strong release from the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, SATIIM. The organization is calling on the government to immediately rescind the amnesty, saying it is only serving to perpetuate a vicious cycle […]
There are more details tonight on dredging activities taking place in San Pedro and it appears that it is a case of putting the cart before the horse. As we reported, investor Darrin Sherry was granted a license to dredge even before the San Pedro Town Council could see a development plan. But even more […]
OCEANA Belize spends as much time in the courtroom as it does on the ocean and two legal battles took place in court just this week. The most recent included a roadblock to Oceana’s referendum case that Vice President for Belize, Audrey Matura Shepherd vows to continue possibly in the Appeals Court. But earlier in […]
On Tuesday, OCEANA won a major legal victory when six oil contracts were declared null and void by the Supreme Court. Tonight, there is a developing story from San Pedro that is stirring unease on the island. It is reported that north of San Pedro’s Marine Channel, seventy-six point nine cubic yards are being dredged […]
The sale of confiscated rosewood announced by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development on Monday has been drawing huge public outcry. This afternoon, the Association of Protected Areas Management Organization added its considerable weight to the public condemnation surrounding the recent decision by government regarding the amnesty, sale and exportation of rosewood. In […]
The Department of the Environment is investigating reports of a fish kill in the New River near the toll bridge. There are reports of fish kills in the same area at least once every year, and every year it is blamed on some material being pumped into the river by the Belize Sugar Industry’s factory. […]
Forestry Minister Lisel Alamilla took the hot seat this morning to explain the recent rosewood scandal. It includes a decision by Cabinet to declare an amnesty for those in possession of the precious hardwood, and to approve the sale and export of rosewood with government splitting the profits from sales. We’ll have that explanation in […]
And from the rosewood which was under government lock and key, to all those countless board feet which were in hiding because of the moratorium and are now coming to light under amnesty. With the decision becoming public while Minister Alamilla was out of the country, many speculated that it was a case of ‘while […]
The Maya Leaders Alliance and the Toledo Alcalde’s Association have issued a joint statement saying that they are deeply disturbed and utterly outraged by the actions of government. Spokesperson of the Maya Leaders Alliance, Cristina Coc, told News five that it was an insult and a slap in the face of the Maya people. Well […]
Forest Minister Lisel Alamilla returned to the country on Thursday from her trip to Turkey, but up to news-time there has been no official word from her Ministry on the controversial sale of harvested rosewood. But there is plenty of word coming in from other areas as public outrage continues to grow since the two-week […]
The joint release from the MLA and the TAA also states that, “the decision by government ranks among the worst of the many recent improprieties and injustices surrounding the rosewood and larger logging industry, and they call government’s conduct intolerable.” But notwithstanding that, the Mayan leaders are still committing their assistance with the possible fallout […]
The 2013 hurricane season for the Atlantic will be a busy one…that’s the official predictions coming out from Doctor William Gray and his colleagues at the Colorado State University. They predict that there will be more activity than the median from 1981-2010 season. From eighteen named storms, nine are expected to become hurricanes of which […]
Over the course of this week and particularly today, the heat has been unbearable. While at the Met, we took the opportunity to ask, meteorologist, Ronald Gordon, about the cause of the sweltering heat. Gordon says that it is normal during the dry season and gave some recommendations in adapting to the hot temperatures. […]
Shipments of Rosewood, which fetches top dollar in mainland China, were blocked by a moratorium by the Ministry of Forest, Fisheries and Sustainable Development. But on Monday, cameras caught the removal of flitches from the Forest Department in the Capital. Both the Minister, Lisel Alamilla and the Chief Forest Officer, Wilbur Sabido, are out of […]
So, finally there is an explanation of an official sort; even if delivered in a less than official fashion. But there are glaring points which the Minister of National Security brushed aside during his regularly scheduled appearance on the “Fus Ting Da Mawnin” show. In March, rosewood found in Belize and the rest of the […]
The rosewood crisis festered until February 2012, when the moratorium was introduced. Up to that time, one of the main exporters of timber, and a name frequently associated with illicit harvesting of rosewood, is Kambokin Enterprises Limited. That company is registered in Corozal, and when News Five went digging for answers, we found out that […]
Rosewood is once again in the media spotlight; that is, confiscated or harvested rosewood. The much sought after timber first got all this attention because millions of dollars worth of its flitches were seized from illegal loggers even when a moratorium was in place. Now, ironically, it is getting all this attention because government is […]
But while government is ominously silent on the rosewood issue, public outrage has been fast and furious and very loud. This morning on the airwaves, Belizeans called the decision to return the illegally harvested rosewood shameful and disgraceful. Today, News Five spoke to Toledo activist Wil Maheia, who has been involved in the fight to […]
And the very active COLA, represented by its vocal president Giovanni Brackett, weighed in on the rosewood issue this afternoon as well. He says his organization is outraged, and will do whatever is necessary to call out the government to right what they see as an egregious wrong. Giovanni Brackett, President, COLA “There are […]
At two minutes past two this afternoon, a five point five magnitude earthquake occurred near Tela, Atlantida which shook up other areas in north, central and southern Honduras. It lasted about three seconds and while no deaths have been reported so far, telephone and electricity lines were interrupted. The earthquake was felt in north-eastern Guatemala […]
The harvesting of rosewood is illegal and there is a moratorium in place since March sixteenth, 2012, but that has not stopped the highly lucrative trade to markets in China, where there is a huge demand for the precious hardwood. On Monday afternoon, confiscated flitches of rosewood held at the Forestry compound in Belmopan were […]
