Back in March the proposed Belize Maya Forest project became a political football. That's after the Briceno Administration condemned the Barrow administration for granting the Nature Conservancy a 50-year tax break for a land deal. That's the agreement in which TNC would purchase 260 thousand acres of land in Belize from private landowners, which would then be turned into a protected area.
That block of the forest canopy, seen here in this image, is the last portion of the rainforest that makes up the Selva Maya, a sprawling, tropical forest region that extends over Belize, northern Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico. It covers approximately 43 thousand, 300 square kilometers of land in all 3 countries, and it is made up of more than 4 million hectares of protected areas. It is the most extensive tropical rainforest of Mesoamerica.
For the past 4 and a half years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been working with government agencies and NGO's in Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala to implement a massive 12.8-million-euro project to protect and preserve the entire Selva Maya region.
Here in Belize, the IUCN has been working with PACT and the Forestry Department to implement strategies to protect our portion of the Selva Maya region. Support from this project has helped in conservation efforts for Caracol Archaeological Reserve, the Chiquibul National Park, the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, the Eligio Panti National Park, and the Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area.
Part one of the project officially concluded today. To mark important milestones reached in those 4+ years, the Forestry Department - the executing agency of Belize's protection efforts - hosted a closing ceremony which was held live at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel and virtually via Zoom teleconference.
They invited the press to cover the event, and 7news tuned in virtually.:
There are already early discussions taking place for part two of this important project..
