There is no denying that over the past couple of years there has been a boom in the introduction of new tourist destinations catering to the always escalating numbers of cruise ship tourists that land in Belize. It seems now that the direct effects of the touristical development boom is beginning to directly infringe on at least one existing sanctuary. We today traveled to Black Creek that forms part of the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary to find that developers are laying siege to part of a national reserve.
Alfonso Noble Reporting, [From Crooked Tree]
It's supposed to be part of the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, safe from any harm but driving alongside the eastern side of Black Creek it would seem more like preparations are being made to turn the area into an amusement park. Over the past few weeks, developments in the area have the Belize Audubon Society
scrambling to determine what exactly is happening and who is responsible.
Tanya Williams-Thompson,
"Audubon had received reports that a developer was clearing some land within the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary and so we went out there to verify if that was true. We have found that approximately 1.4 miles of land has been cleared within the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary."
Alfonso Noble,
Who is clearing the land? Which developer is clearing the land?
Tanya Williams-Thompson,
"That is a determination that has to be made by the relevant agencies and we have been working with them to find out who is the developer and for them to decide what legal actions should be taken regarding this issue."
And while the Audubon tries to figure out who is doing the land clearing that is also infringing on the 66 foot reserve that should stand between any clearing and a body of water it does not need to figure out one thing: the legality of it.
Tanya Williams-Thompson,
"It is an illegal action and so no one will come and tell us that they are doing an illegal action. Unfortunately we had to depend on reports to get the information but we are acting on that information, acting on the reports, acting on what we know. Unfortunately it is in a secluded area. We do have management, we do have do monitoring of the area but the clearing occurred quite quickly we must say. The area had been cleared previously but that particular section within the wildlife sanctuary seems to have been cleared recently so we acted as soon as we got the reports."
Alfonso Noble,
How can this be happening without you all knowing or consenting to it?
Tanya Williams-Thompson,
"And that is why we are very concerned. This is an illegal action. No flora or fauna is supposed to be removed from any wildlife sanctuary and that is why we have contacted the relevant agency so that we can work with them to try to stop this and take legal action. We know that this is an issue that could continue if we do not apply some pressure right now to stop it and so I don't consider it to be a moot action, I think that we need to proceed with this and to ensure that it doesn't continue."
And they may be hard pressed to do that because it would seem by our reckoning that whatever needed to be done in the area has already been done and now it is left to be seen whether any penalties will be levied on those responsible for this latest assault on the environment.
Despite numerous attempts, we were unable to get comment from the Department of the Environment to ascertain who the developer is and if he has a right or license to do that kind of development in the area.
