It is the largest national park in Belize but the Chiquibul Forest Reserve is also the most vulnerable. It is 264,000 acres - spanning from the Cayo District to its border with the Toledo District – and sharing miles of border with Guatemala. And that’s where the Guatemalan encroaches come in. They are it seems uncontrollably invading our territory and it seems no one is able to stop them. That’s because we have no permanent military presence along the border. 13 youths from Europe came to Belize last month and changed that. Keith Swift has the story from Rio Blanco.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This morning we left on this British Army Huey Bell helicopter for a 45 minute flight to extreme Western Belize. The destination was Rio Blanco in the Chiquibul National Park. It looks majestic from the air but on the ground it is getting ugly. Rio Blanco is located about 400 meters from the Belize Guatemala Border, which is now referred to as the adjacency zone. And because of its proximity to the border, its remote location, and its vast expanse – illegal Guatemalan farmers and loggers have been steadily advancing on Belizean territory.
Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director – Friends for Conservation & Development
“We can see a sort of a wave of Guatemalans coming in and looking at the rainforest and beautiful land and actually coming in and burning it actually for milpa. I would say that it is very serious. If we look at since 1987, the level of incursions in the Chiquibul area alone, along the border, which is at this same location, and north and south, we actually have already lost over 7,000 acres of tropical forest as a result of farming activities. Some of it might not be farming activities. Some of it might not have been really used for farming but actually through fire, it spreads out. So it is daunting.
Another thing Belizeans don’t understand is the implication for this
but Guatemala is forty times bigger than Belize, poverty levels is extreme so what you are going to see are more waves of people really trying to come in. So what you see right along here is really more a demonstration of what can happen. Those bald hills that you see over there, the same thing can happen right around here.”
And FCD’s Executive Director Rafael Manzanero says Guatemalans have been doing all that damage because no one is there to stop them.
Rafael Manzanero,
“We cannot really have military personnel or also our rangers to come in because by the time they actually arrive already after three days of hiking, they are exhausted. To hike in this type of jungle it really drains the body so the idea is really to have in the future to have more personnel because we cannot have our rangers hiking in and out every week.”
But that will now change. This morning Trekforce International handed over a wooden building to the Belize Defense Force. It was built by these thirteen youths from Europe who’ve spent the last 29 days working in Rio Blanco jungle.
John Sullivan, Trek Leader
“We’ve come out here really because we want to live in the forest. There is no jungle where we live back home. We only see the jungle on TV. So to come out and actually live in this environment is an amazing experience and the whole desire of everyone coming out is conservation and that’s what we do best at Trekforce.
The building is built out of sapodilla and we’ve had rangers, we’ve had chainsaws guys cutting the wood for six weeks on site and then really it is the team’s task to get the wood up and literally the wood would be on the shoulders – one guy would be up front and another be pushing up from behind, driving it in all the way to the top. We brought up a couple hundred pieces of wood – 7 shifts a day getting it up. That was the first logistical challenge. Then you got to get all the food in because you can’t just stay here and not eat. So getting food is a big task and then a big one is safety.”
20 year old Synnove Skulstad from Norway and 18 year old Nicholas Masters Wagge from England paid to leave the comforts of their homes in Europe for the jungle of Belize.
Synnove Skulstad, Norway
“We wanted to help people and do something really extraordinary or
something that’s never been done before out here.”
Nicholas Masters Wagge, England
“I think partly coming from England you don’t get to be in an environment like this very much. You don’t get to see the rain forest, there is not even much forest to be honest, we’ve kind of destroyed it all, so its really a great chance to go and see the world and do some good and help out the Belizean culture.”
Keith Swift,
You know this is an area few Belizeans have even visited right?
Rafael Manzanero,
“Yeah we just left everything.”
The BDF’s Acting Commander Col. Dario Tapia says his officers will immediately assume command of the building.
Col. Dario Tapia, Acting Commander – BDF
“This will give us the ability to be ability to patrol north and south
of this building along the western border in the Rio Blanco area to maintain a military presence, to show our sovereignty to Guatemalans, and to halt any sort of illegal encroachment that use to happen here indiscriminately in the past and that is our whole objective here.
I have already given orders to the patrol commander here that as soon as all the formalities are done here, that the patrol that he has out here will come in an take over this building. The Trekforce are leaving today as well as the other conservation groups and this building will be manned by us in partnership with a ranger from the FCD.”
And along with the detection of illegal Guatemalans, Col. Tapia says the outpost will also be key to prevention – that is preventing Guatemalans from even crossing the borderline.
A minimum of ten soldiers will be assigned to the outpost along with a police officer. As for the Trekforce volunteers, they leave the area tomorrow and will be heading across the border to Guatemala to continue their expedition which lasts 5 months. Again they paid US$5,000 to be a part of the expedition. Trekforce has been in Belize for 12 years. And speaking about encroachment, we are told that 6 Guatemalan families are still living in Santa Rosa. They are still waiting for new homes to be built for them on the Guatemalan side of the border.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
