$100,000 in grant funds has been awarded to the Friends for Conservation Development and the Community Baboon Sanctuary, each receiving $50,000 to continue their vital conservation efforts.
The funding flows from Belize's Nature Conservation Foundation grant program currently being managed by PACT. FCD plans to utilize their funds to increase patrol systems to safeguard the Chiquibul caverns.
The women's conservation group of the community Baboon Sanctuary will use their funds for a public education campaign in the Belize River Valley community. Here are the highlights from the signing ceremony yesterday.
Edilberto Romero, BNCF
"I would like to recognize its women's month, board of directors of the community baboon sanctuary. They are responsible for managing the community Baboon Sanctuary and that is one of the major reasons we are here today to grant, help them with the management of the reserve with financing from Belize Nature conservation foundation."
"The purpose is to promote activities designed to conserve, maintain or restore tropical Forrests in Belize including forrest lands, the beneficiaries of this forrest conservation agreement is Belize Audubon society, program for Belize TIDE the PACT foundation and the time was established and later it was changed to Belize nature conservation foundation. So Belize Aud BNCF AWARDS."
"I would like to recognize its women's month, board of directors of the community baboon sanctuary. They are responsible for managing the community Baboon Sanctuary and that is one of the major reasons we are here today to grant, help them with the management of the reserve with financing from Belize Nature conservation foundation."
"The purpose is to promote activities designed to conserve, maintain or restore tropical Forrests in Belize including forrest lands, the beneficiaries of this forrest conservation agreement is Belize Audubon society, program for Belize TIDE the PACT foundation and the time was established and later it was changed to Belize nature conservation foundation. So Belize Audubon, program for Belize and TIDE got funding for land management and for an endowment fund today each of these organizations have a little over 2.7 million dollars as endowment fund and that is endowment fund they can only use 2% of whatever the balances at the end of the last fiscal year."
Mr. Rafael Manzanero, FCD
"The project is to safe guard it with the high level of integrity of this system so is it under threat? Yes like anything else in terms of a beauty and singularity and uniqueness it surely would also have threats. But the threats in a cave is not really inside the cave because people won't go there and just loot it because it is so huge but the problems that threatens a cave is above the cutting of the trees the poaching of animals, the pollution, all of these things can then affect a cave under our feet. So this project being funded by BNSCF is primarily to maintain a patrol system in place in that area there."
