Last night, you heard the prime minister scold the Ya'axche Conservation Trust for quote, "not doing their jobs" in the Columbia River Forest Reserve, which has seen 450 acres encroached upon by Guatemalan loggers and farmers.
Well, today, the Association of Protected Areas Management Organizations is clarifying that Ya'axche is not the co-manager of the reserve and that it's actually the responsibility of the Forest Department. Their release says, quote, "As with many other conservation Non-Governmental Organizations engaged in protected areas management, Ya'axché contributes to national efforts by participating in multi-agency surveillance and enforcement patrols. In this instance, Ya'axche collaborated with the Belize Defense Force to monitor illegal activities in key hotspot areas, including Columbia River Forest Reserve." End quote.
APAMO also emphasizes that the challenges faced in the reserves cannot be addressed by the government or co-management entities alone, and as such, they are urging the government to take decisive and sustained action.
On Monday, Ya'axche's Christin Garcia told us that in the first instance, the state has to install additional conservation posts in the CRFR:
Christina Garcia, Executive Director, Ya'axche
"And the reason why we now see it a lot in the Columbia River Forest Reserve is the absence of enforcement within the area. Like I mentioned, there is only one conservation post there. It takes so long to get the enforcement team to that area."
"You have more accessibility from the Guatemalan communities into the area with that construction of the road. So they have easier access to the area than we have as Belizeans. And certainly, like I said, the lack of enforcement that has occurred within that protected area over the years has a lot to do with it, too."
For some time now co-managers of other areas have been warning government that the CRFR is being dramatically impacted by Guatemalans through the high-level activity of incursions and encroachments.
