Captain Arturo Edrei Garcia and crew members, Nelson Perez Ardao and Alexis Gonzalez Cune of the cargo ship, Helga, have been missing for a week. It doesn’t look good for the families of the missing Cubans since on Thursday night, the Belize Coast Guard called off its search for the three men. But it’s asking […]
Representatives from Maya communities converged at the Battlefield Park in downtown Belize today for day one of an appeal by the Government on a Supreme Court ruling handed down last year. That ruling affirmed ancestral Maya land rights for thirty-eight villages in southern Belize. The case was a major win for the Maya Leaders’ Alliance […]
The coast of Belize is becoming more perilous for manatees. Despite the awareness campaigns of the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute and the Sea 2 Shore Alliance, mariners are still the leading cause of deaths of the mammal, called the sea cow. Since Saturday two manatees have been killed off the coast of Belize […]
A two-day oil summit held in Punta Gorda Town by a host of environmental N.G.O.s culminated today. After much debate on the benefits and drawbacks of oil exploration in protected areas of Belize and in particular in the Sarstoon Temash National Park, the summit adopted a position paper. Present were the Sarstoon Temash Institute of […]
Still on the question of oil exploration, we reported on Tuesday night that the environmental community is speaking out against new oil concessions in the north, which includes sections of the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area. Applications from five companies were discussed in Cabinet today for a production sharing agreement in the northwestern Orange […]
Over the weekend, OCEANA intensified its campaign towards a referendum on the question of whether or not to drill. Seventeen thousand signatures are required and the results of the petition will be known at a later date. But before that, there is another development that is angering the Association of Protected Areas Management Organization. APAMO […]
OCEANA today took its campaign to the south of the country with an oil summit in Punta Gorda where the community is already fighting with the government over a contract issued to Capital Energy, a U.S. company. They claim the contract was only for seismic testing, but now G.O.B. contends that the courts have provided […]
Last week, the Belize Agricultural Health Authority, BAHA, imposed a quarantine on three areas of the Cayo District where cows and a horse had shown signs of a vesicular disease. The authorities were hoping that the culprit was the less severe of two types of diseases and today the results are just back from the […]
The latest contract to surface for oil exploration in Belize was given to Kimano Barrow, the nephew of the Prime Minister Dean Barrow along with Alfredo Acosta as owners of the Paradise Energy Limited. The contract came to light recently and triggered uproar because of the huge area involved, which includes the Maya Mountains and […]
The contract aside, Matura Shepherd says that contrary to government claims, offshore drilling cannot potentially bail the country out of the super bond debt. Audrey Matura Shepherd, VP, Oceana Belize “Our people are being told that if we do offshore, we’ll get big money. And I am saying to the people, even if we find […]
There are two major vesicular diseases that can affect cattle; the deadly foot and mouth disease and the vesicular stomatitis. The two viruses display similar symptoms among cattle, horses and pigs. And tonight at farms in the Lower Barton Creek area of Cayo, there are worrisome signs that the animals may be affected by what […]
Earlier today the National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) met to discuss an Environmental Impact Assessment plan that could result in the development of a resort on an island within the protected area of the Belize Barrier Reef. The Yum Balisi resort would house at least one hundred and ten persons and create up to eight […]
The Belize Barrier Reef’s status as a World Heritage Site continues to be in peril tonight as developers are forging ahead with plans for the construction of a resort on an island within the site. It is bad news for the environmental community and they are not holding back. The Yum Balisi project is expected […]
According to Melanie McField after the previous permits were scrutinized, dredging was illegal and no charges were issued against the first developer who made over a million dollars in selling his stake on the island. Jose Sanchez “A lot of what was done in regards to dredging and removal of mangroves was illegal. Were there […]
A consortium of scientists from Mexico’s most prestigious universities, through the Embassy of Mexico, held an inaugural symposium with local biologists and environmentalists from the University of Belize this week. The purpose of the two-day seminar was to brainstorm the development of an undergraduate program in Marine Biology at U.B. During the meeting, information was […]
Learn, Sign, Vote, is the campaign launched on Monday by the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage. The coalition needs seventeen thousand votes to convince the government that a referendum is necessary so that Belizeans may decide for themselves if they want drilling for oil in our reefs and national parks. It’s a personal […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow said last week that “drill we will” in respect of oil exploration in the Sarstoon Temash National Park. Greg Ch’oc, the man who would be the thirteenth senator and representative of the N.G.O. community, was not present when the P.M. made it clear that Capital Energy has the go ahead to […]
One of the many controversial issues in oil exploration is government’s intent to allow a US company to drill in the Sarstoon Temash National Park in Toledo. Environmentalists have been vocal against it, but Prime Minister Dean Barrow has said before and reiterated on Wednesday that the deal has been sealed. The Sarstoon Temash Institute […]
That was the prime minister’s take on Wednesday and by today the reaction has been fast and furious. SATIIM issued a release saying that the P.M.’s statement shows complete disregard for the law. It goes on to quote Gregory Ch’oc, the Executive Director, as saying that; “SATIIM will challenge any illegal action in order to […]
While most of the P.M.’s quarterly press conference laid out hard times for the people, there was one moment at the end of the press conference when Barrow paused to make mention of an incident, which he felt was a footnote worth mentioning. Last week, the Committee Organized for Liberty Through Action, COLA, camped out […]
The Prime Minister was drilled on a number of issues, including the recent oil exploration concession given to his nephew Kimano Barrow. Environmentalists have sounded the alarm about Kimano’s lack of knowhow in the oil industry and are concerned that there was no bidding process for the concession issued in the large parcel of land […]
There’s a first MegaBingo jackpot winner and she hails from Hopkins. Sheridan Polanco’s lucky stars were shining on her last Saturday. She played for the first time and she hit the jackpot. It’s a bitter sweet win for her as on the same day she had been served with a notice of eviction. News Five’s […]
The Belize Audubon Society has a year round calendar filled with educational activities about the flora and fauna of the country. The folks at the Audubon, however, have noted a change in the bird population in Belize City. If you have had your eyes trained to the trees and the skies you would have noted […]
A major decision has been made by Cabinet in respect of oil exploration. In our newscast on Tuesday we reported that members of COLA, FECTAB, BGYEA and environmentalists had camped out in front of the Prime Minister’s Belmopan office. They remained there during the night calling on the government to refrain from approving further licenses […]
Earlier we told you about the government’s decision to save one point four million acres of the sea from further oil exploration licenses. While COLA raised awareness on the issue of oil drilling in the reef, its advocacy partner OCEANA has been prepping for upcoming events in the United States. OCEANA Vice President for Belize, […]
