And proving that there's enough largesse to go around, PACT today shared with the city, as it adopted the roundabout at mile two and half on the Northern Highway. This afternoon, PACT held a mahogany tree planting ceremony. It's just a sapling right now, but PACT hopes the tree will flourish and eventually give pact more prominence.
Valdemar Andrade,
"This is a tribute from PACT to our country, a symbol of the kind of work that PACT is doing and also to make people aware of the conservation efforts in Belize. The mahogany tree is our national symbol and so today we chose to plant a mahogany tree here and we will be maintaining this roundabout for the rest of PACT's life in terms of whatever the maintenance is. Also to make people conscious that PACT is working in Belize towards conservation and environmental education activities with respect to protected areas management. So when people pass here they will see that image.
Today we also launched our plant for the future campaign. Basically this is geared towards inner-city kids that don't really have a lot of environment surrounding them so we are trying to creating an environment within their school setting that they can learn from. And so the children had to write in and say why their school should be chosen. We chose ten schools today. Each school will be receiving ten trees that are native to Belize, including the mahogany which is a symbol of their country. They have to keep these trees and maintain a nature program that will teach environmental education to the kids. At our next anniversary in 2007 we will come and assess their programs and the best schools, we will have a prize for first, second, and third place. The best schools will receive a prize. The prizes will be geared towards supporting their programs or any program they choose."
