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The WLT was originally set up to raise funds for the Programme for Belize, and has been responsible for raising over $2-million for land purchase and research into sustainable use of the forest. By 1996 all the loans have been paid off and the WLT has established FRIENDS OF BELIZE for those interested in the long-term conservation of Belize's wildlife and natural resources. It is now possible to visit the PFB owned forests and stay at the Research Station.
See details below for donations to "Friends of Belize".
Tropical forests currently cover a mere 6 per cent of the earth's surface yet are home to about 60 per cent of the world's plant and animal species. Destruction of the forests is more than something to be quietly lamented; not only are we losing countless species of animals and plants at a rate 10,000 times greater than normal, we are also denying ourselves the potential benefits such diversity and abundance can bring.
Tropical forest loss and the burning of scrub is thought to be a major contributor to global warming. As the forests are reduced in size at a rate of 50 acres a minute, we lessen the ability of the earth to produce oxygen and absorb the huge volumes of carbon dioxide we discharge from industrial processes.
At the current rate of loss, less that a quarter of existing forests will remain by the year 2000. Every day an area of forest the size of the Isle of Wight (UK) is felled, somewhere in the world.
While the urgency of halting this destruction is recognised, the fact remains, however, that to countries struggling to improve their standard of living the forest represents a major exploitable resource.
The challenge - one which has been taken up by the Programme for Belize - is how to link development and conservation in ways that advance the objectives of both while building the economy and helping Belizeans achieve a better standard of living.
Background
Belize is a tiny country squeezed between the Caribbean Sea, Mexico and Guatemala. Covering an area of only 8800 square miles, it is about the size of Wales with a population of less than 200,000.
Formerly British Honduras, it became independent in 1981. Its government is democratic and stable and the population enjoys a literacy rate of 90 per cent. It is a place of great natural beauty and has managed so far to keep 90 per cent of its original vegetation, 70 per cent of which is prime tropical forest. The forests literally teem with wildlife; howler monkeys, spider monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, ocelots, margays and over 500 species of birds live in the forest. 250 species of orchids have been catalogued and its insect life is so abundant that entomologists are still discovering species new to science.
Belize was once populated by the Maya Indians and their legacy is a wealth of temples and edifices, now hidden in the forest. Its coral reef, which stretches the entire length of the coastline, is second only to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.
To the naturalist, the archaeologist, the scientist, the sympathetic traveller and to the wildlife itself Belize is still a paradise.
The Challenge In 1988, the Massachusetts Audubon Society gave a substantial start-up grant to the Programme for Belize and from the beginning the Programme has recognised the importance of bringing together two potentially conflicting needs - that of the Belizeans themselves anxious to raise their standard of living, and that of ensuring the forests are not destroyed as a consequence.
Programme for Belize set to work with the help of international and local environment groups, experts from a variety of fields and Departments of the Belizean government itself, to devise a plan which could indeed address both issues.
An imaginative programme was developed, based on purchasing 110,000 acres of forest, to which has now been added 42,000 acres of land donated by CocaCola Foods. Highly significant is the fact that much of the adjacent lands have recently been cleared of forest for farming.
The Programme's Work To Date The Programme has three small offices - in Belize, the USA and the UK. Here in the UK we are raising finds for the purchase of land (paying off the loan that allowed us to buy it) and its management. Our target is to raise £250,000 a year. ( This is done now, but money is required to maintain the reserve - hence the creation of Friends of Belize .)
The response from inividuals, schools and groups has been tremendous, and many major conservation organisations are giving us their full support. The Conservation Foundation and its President, David Bellamy, have been particulary active on our behalf, as have various Friends of the Earth groups.
We have also received substantial support from industry. Tate & Lyle plc, which has historic links with Belize through the sugar cane connection, has helped UK fund-raising initiatives considerably. British Airways gives invaluable help through its Assisting Nature Conservation scheme, and (former) TODAY newspaper donated £25,000 to buy a 1,000 acre plot for its readers.
Once the land has been paid for, the task of managing it remains. Ultimately it is intended that the Programme should be self-sustaining, but in the immediate future we need to raise funds for other elements vital to the infrastructure of a reserve (for instance, the training of park wardens).
Although this opportunity for positive action has inspired thousands of people to respond generously, the end is not yet in sight and much more is left to do.
The Programme The opportunities for non-consumptive uses of the forest are many and varied and a Draft Management Plan has been submitted to the Belizean Government. It will undergo a period of review by government departments and experts before it becomes the working document to guide Programme personnel in their work. Apart from specifically outlawing such things as hunting, clear-felling and the introduction of non-native species, the Management Plan spells out the positive side of the initiative as well.
It will encourage carefully monitored and controlled eco-tourism. Scientific expeditions will explore the darkest recesses of the forest to catalogue its vast diversity of insects and plants, and archaeolgical expeditions will inspect the Maya edifices, some of which have never been seen before. Buffer zones around the reserve area will be established in which carefully constrolled sustainable logging may be allowed. An education programme for local and national communities is being actively pursued emphasizing how the country and the individual will benefit, not just in the short-term, but over a period of centuries, seeing economic growth and at the same time keeping a frim grasp on its natural heritage.
The Rio Bravo Area will be owned by the Programme for Belize who in turn will take responsibility for managing it in a sustainable and non-consumptive way on behalf of the people of Belize of perpetuity.
What You Can Do The Programme for Belize invities you to accept the challenge and join us in this opportunity for positive action. Your response to this appeal could make all the difference between a good idea and seeing that good idea turn into a magnificent reality.
£25 is not a King's ransom, but then again, it isn't a drop in the ocean either. It isn't hard to raise £25 - if you cannot manage it yourself why not get together with a friend to become a Friend Of Belize ? Now that the loans for the land purchases have been paid off, we need financial support to continue with the maintenance and staffing of the Programme for Belize forests and research station there.
We will be pleased to help you with your fund-raising and will send you brochures, newsletters and posters to give to friends and display publicly. On this occasion there really is something you can do to halt the destruction of tropical forests.
The Programme is endorsed by:
- Audubon Alliance
- Belize Audubon Society
- Belize Center for Environmental Studies
- Belize Zoo & Tropical Education Center
- Manomet Bird Observatory
- Massachusetts Audubon Society
- Missouri Botanical Garden
- National Audubon Society
- Nature Conservancy
- New York Zoological Society
- World Wildlife Fund