And the situation with Yemeri and Laguna has boiled over into the Machaca Forest Reserve. The area rep had plans to de-reserve a portion of it to use as land for his constituents. However, he said that since both villages are claiming that area, they've run into obstacles. So while Requena is hoping that the two parties can reach an agreement, he also said that they need to keep in mind the needs of the people, not just the ruling of the court.
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Transformation, Labor
"What I can say to you is that I am the area rep for Toledo West and as the representative, we have young Belizeans, who don't own a house lot, who don't have a place on which to build their homes, so they come to me and they say minister, we want you to help us to find a piece of land, and I have to be very proactive, I have to ensure that I listen to my people and find a way to resolve that. So what I did is, I approached the Minister of Sustainable Development, the Honorable Landy Habit as well as the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Natural Resources and said, you know, gentlemen, here is the situation, we need to see where we can locate some land, given that most of the lands are currently under the communal land system. We have to find a way where we can help to address the concerns of my constituents and subsequent to that there was a Cabinet paper that was taken to Cabinet for the de-reservation of a portion of that reserve to make lots available and we have been pursuing that process. Unfortunately we have met some roadblocks because Laguna is saying well, this area belongs to us, and Yemeri Grove is also saying this area belongs to us so certainly we have to continue the dialogue and find some middle ground so that ultimately whereas we understand and respect the ruling of the court, we also called upon our communities and our leaders to also understand that our people have needs and we have to find a way to address those needs."
Courtney Menzies:
"But do you think that this sets a precedence that now other reserves can face de-reservation because there will always be more people and there will always need more land and we'll start to de-reserve a lot of the forest reserves we do have?"
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Transformation, Labor
"No, I don't think so, and first and foremost I think we clarify that the Machaca reserve is an area that has been reserved for many years, there was a pine plantation, a pain tress plantation, unfortunately there was a time when there was an attack by some bugs that attacked the pine trees and all the pine trees died so literally what you have there is just a small canopy there and really nothing is happening in the area and that is why I sought permission to de-reserve a portion of that area."
