Turning now to other news - we've been reporting on the illegal logging in Boston Village where Mennonite loggers went into their village lands and did a clean cut, taking out every tree they could. The Forestry Department has been investigating and today we asked Deputy Chief John Pinelo for an update. He says they have arrived at a turning point where the courts will decide what happens.
John Pinelo Jr., Deputy Chief Forest Officer
"Regarding the Boston situation the 2 gentlemen who were the principals for the logging have been summoned to court and it is expected that they will appear on the 25th of September. Our office in Orange Walk is right now getting statements from everybody involved including our officers so that we can use the statements when we go to court next week. So while you might not be hearing of anything happening we are going through process of making sure we have a clear cut case before we go to court."
No Answers In Illegal Logging On Usher Estate
We also asked Pinelo for an update on what will become of the situation that occurred on Osbert Usher's private farms in Stann Creek and have they determined whether a law was broken when loggers encroached upon the Usher's private property.
John Pinelo Jr., Deputy Chief Forest Officer
"The person who was doing the logging, we cannot definitively prove that the logs came out of Mr Usher's property. I have had a conversation with Mr Usher, he and I spoke and what we have done is that, that amount of logs that were identified after the close of the season, it has been taken over by the state. The person who was doing the logging, while we cannot prove that it came out of those peoples property, we have confiscated the material. What I have told Mr Usher is that he and the other people who are property owners of the area can apply to purchase the material for themselves to at least offset what losses they might feel they have incurred. So that is where we are right now. And I am just finalizing the paperwork with our Savannah office and then the offer will be made to Mr Usher and his neighbors if they want to purchase the material."
No More Short Term Logging Licenses
One of the main criticisms of the forestry department is that with all its logging licenses - short and long-term - that it does not do enough monitoring which leads to widespread violations and extraction of illegal timber. When we asked the Deputy Chief Forest Officer about this today he said that the ratio of forestry officers to forest cover in Belize shows a major disparity. He says the only solution to the problem they have managed to establish is the stopping the issuance of short term logging licenses.
John Pinelo Jr., Deputy Chief Forest Officer
"I think it is an unfair criticism of the department we have the entire country to monitor. We have about 40% of this country covered in forest so it will never be possible for us to monitor every area. We need the help of the public as has happened recently with all these complaints that we have gotten. We take them and we don't take them negatively. We appreciate that the public gets in touch with us because that is the only way we will know what is going on in their areas. We have our hotline as I made known about a month ago where people can WhatsApp us with the information with anything that they think is important for us to respond and that is why we found out this was going on in Boston because the chairman actually got in touch with us by WhatsApp letting us know. So like I said I don't think it is a fair criticism of the department. We do a lot and the ones that you don't know about you don't come to me with because there are issues that we dealt with and fixed the problem before it became a problem. There are only a few situations out of 100 that you come to us and ask us why didn't you get your work done? Those are certain issues that we might not have known about. One of the biggest problems that we have had recently or for a while now is that we have been issuing short term licenses to people which means they lag within a period of about 6 to 8 months. When somebody does that they have a very short time to finish their work so the environmental impact is not necessarily their main concern its trying to make sure you make back your money within those 6 months you have invested to log and so because of that the incentive to jump into somebody else's property is there and that is what we have seen with these 2or 3 situations that occurred recently. So for us to resolve those issues the ministry and the minister has decided that we will no longer issue short term licenses in public lands. Within private lands the land owner has the right to do what he wants to do on his own private land but with public lands we will no longer do that."
New Technology To Save Mangroves
We caught up with Pinelo at the advancing Belize's National forest monitoring system symposium this morning, a project that has been in the works for the past 5 years, engaging with the relevant stakeholders on how to utilize Remote sensing and geospatial mapping to save Belize's mangrove cover. Here is what we gathered at the event.
Edgard Correa, Geospatial Monitoring Unit
"In terms of today's workshop we will be presenting on several activities such as the mangrove cover change and we are also looking at the land cover, national land cover mapping that we have been doing with partners and also the fire monitoring system that we implemented nationally."
"It's a symposium so basically it is to one show appreciation to all the partners that came together in terms of developing these systems and working together in terms of an inclusive system for Belize but also hopefully something that can be used for future activities so that these activities can continue. Most of these activities were funded based by projects and we would like to see how this could be more national based in terms of a budget and implementation and how the government can top these activities therefore having these symposiums and showcasing the value of these products and how it can be done nationally it ensures we can replicate these in the future sustainably."
Why Did Flip Flop On Safe Third Country?
When we spoke to the PM at the beginning of the month, he stated that Belize was in negotiations with the US government to be a safe third country for it to send its asylum seekers. But as we told you, back in January, he was adamantly against it. Today he said that the negotiations should be wrapping up soon, and we asked him why the flip-flop:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I think shortly, I think within a month or so. It shouldn't take long. And again, it's nothing to be excited about. It's simply whereby the United States, since they're getting rid of all of these people, you need to put them somewhere."
"And we're giving them the opportunity to decide, OK, where is it that they want to....? Maybe many of them can't go back to their country because of political persecution, gang activities, whatever it is. And so they're giving them an opportunity to say, OK, I would like to go. There's this list of countries. And then the country then also sets a certain criteria. We want to set a criteria more like a job program, whereby people with certain qualifications can come to Belize."
"And so if they come, they'll be able to participate meaningfully in our economy. Obviously, we're saying that we want people who speak Spanish or English, and we prefer people from the Caribbean or Central America."
"We are going to open up to the whole world that they can come. And we can decide which regions we're prepared to take on countries."
Reporter
"What made you change your mind, because in January, you had a very hard line."
"Last question, I promise. You had a very hard line against being a safe third country."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Yes, because back then, they were just talking about dumping people in your country. This time around, they're telling us differently."
"And also, the United States will help financially in trying to settle these people when they come. So it's far different than what was presented to us back in January. So that is why I changed my position."
PM Tells Jules To Put His Name On A Ballot
And while he's cozy with the US, speaking in the house today - the PM had no nice words for our news director Jules Vasquez. He said, "Jules put your name on a ballot paper!":...
PM Says He Doesn't Have To Explain His Whereabouts To The Public
And the PM also snapped at the suggestion that he had ducked out of the country for the tenth. Indeed he left on Monday the 8th and returned yesterday.
Belize's Young Creatives Converge To Talk About The Future Of Music
And leaving all the politics behind...
The 4th annual Creative Youth ideas Summit took place today with a focus on the future of Music in Belize, by way of a panelist discussion made up of youths and students. They shared their ideas on how we can improve our music industry, and why it is important to share artists' work with the public. Here is what we gathered at the summit today.
Kevin Chen, Communications Officer MFAFTCI
"This is a annual event under the national celebrations commission it forms part of the national celebrations festivities although it is not really the festive type of event it is more of a reflection and more of a type of a forum event really. The main purpose of this event is to listen to our young people to hear their perspective and their ideas and the different issues that we face as a small developing country in previous years the summit has covered themes from crime, mental health issues that have impacted young people and today we are here focused on music and our history, roots and heritage with music but also we are looking at the future of music and it is best that young people are part of this discussion because they really are the future of music the future of our country and the future of music."
Seth Cambranes, Pannelist, Belize Music Project
"The future of music in Belize should look like what, it should be a representation of the community itself which is as tiring as it is to keep saying the phrase a melting pot of culture as Belize is at the moment, we still I feel like it terms of the music and in terms of like the entertainment sphere things are a lot not cut off but very sectioned off from each other and like what we are working on right now with the Belize music project is that we are at least trying to work on a song. We are pushing to modernize the sounds that are still behind to combine and mesh genres together that are Belizean so we can go ahead and push to create a new song for the country."
Belize Receives Torch For CA Games
And finally tonight, Belize will be sending 130 athletes to Guatemala to participate in the The Central American Games in Guatemala next month. And to mark the significance of Belize's participation the Torch for the Games arrived at the PGIA this evening and was welcomed into the city along with a delegation of 7 persons. The torch was then taken into the streets by a parade of cyclists to be handed over to the olympic committee in the city. President of the Olympic Committee Allan Sharp told us more about the historic event when we met them at the airport.
Allan Sharp, President, Belize Olympic Committee
"So the Central American Games, which is like the Olympics, but just for the 7 Central American countries, will take place in Guatemala October 15th to the 31st opening ceremonies on the 18th of October. We have 16 national federations. That means 16 different sports that are going to be participating and competing at the Central American Games. It is the games that we get to put the most, athletes in, because it's the you don't have to qualify, you just have to be very good in your in your sport. So we have 16 sports. I mean that's a lot of sports for Belize to go to any games. So we have big sports, small sports. Everybody going. But why we're here is that the torch for those games is arriving right now on Copa Airlines. It's going to be here today. And tomorrow we have a ceremony to welcome it. And then the national fighters are going to run with the torch trot the streets of Belize City. So this is a big deal this torch has never come to Belize before for the Central American Games is now coming to Belize. So they have a delegation that's bringing it in the mascot as well. So coming today we go from here to the flag roundabout. Deputy mayor runs with it around the roundabout. Then we run with it to the Olympic House,. And tomorrow morning we have a ceremony of where we've invited all the athletes that are going to go to Central American Games. We have almost 130 athletes going to Central American Games."