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China demand seems to be driving illegal harvesting of rosewood: Cristina Coc

FeaturesChina demand seems to be driving illegal harvesting of rosewood: Cristina Coc
At the end of last month, the Maya Leaders Alliance (MLA) vocalized concerns about illegal logging in parts of Toledo, saying that government authorities had failed to take action to stop the illegal extraction of rosewood trees from the forest—and decrying that the Maya leaders who were trying to help curb the problem had themselves been reprimanded.
  
“For some months now, three active rosewood collection/buying sites have been established in Toledo,” said the MLA. “The blocks of rosewood are harvested and transported, mostly under cover of darkness, to these collection sites.”
  
Cristina Coc, representative of the Maya Leaders Alliance, told Amandala that rosewood is rare in Belize and exists only in small pockets in Toledo. Indications are that the yields from the illegal harvesting may be heading to China, she said.
  
“We want it to stop immediately,” said Coc, adding that those responsible for the raping of Toledo forests “have to be held accountable.”
  
As for those involved in the circle of corruption that may have been facilitating the illegal trade, Coc said, “we want that to be dealt with as well.”
  
The MLA also charges corruption in the illegal harvesting of rosewood. It claims that officials from the Machaca Forest Department stamp the blocks of woods, making them legal and ready for further transport.
  
“At these collection sites, another buyer comes with container trucks to purchase for export,” the MLA added.
  
“The fact that they were citing the issue of corruption and stamping of rosewood and timber… by the Forest Department is a misstatement,” Chief Forest Officer Wilber Sabido told Amandala Thursday, August 3.
  
The MLA notes that, “…in the case of Santa Anna Village on April 27, 2011, Punta Gorda Police officers and Machaca Forest officials reprimanded the Alcalde and village leaders for detaining and questioning such perpetrators.”
  
“The Maya will not sit idly and watch our natural heritage raped, regardless of who is involved,” added the MLA.
  
Rosewood is used domestically for the posts of houses, and is commonly used in Maya communities, Coc said, expressing concern for “the integrity of our forests.”
  
Maya leaders also said that they had been trying to meet with top officials of the Forest Department to find a solution to the problem. On Thursday evening, August 4, the parties had that meeting.
  
Chief Forest Officer Wilber Sabido told Amandala Wednesday, August 3, that they had a meeting planned with Maya leaders and representatives to see how, through collaborative efforts, they can address illegal harvesting, whether of rosewood, yemeri or any other hardwood found in the South.
  
Coc was one of the persons who met with Sabido and his team on Thursday afternoon. Also in the meeting were Maya leaders Ligorio Coy, Martin Chen and Alfonso Cal.
  
 
Coc told Amandala that as a consequence of the meeting, the Forest Department and the Maya Leaders Alliance have agreed that they should urgently define a mechanism to address the illegal logging situation.
  
Poverty, said Sabido, is one of the main issues that drive illegal logging.
  
“We could take a heavy-handed approach and confiscate everything … that will have more of a financial and economic impact, but also a social impact,” he added.
  
Sabido said that the department and the Maya leaders are “talking [the] same language,” when it comes to the harvesting of the logs from Toledo, but they had just not come to the same table to discuss a way forward—that is, until Thursday, August 4.
  
Coc said they may meet again later this week so that a system can be put in place by August 15. Coc highlighted the urgency of the matter. “It’s sickening to just watch [it happen],” Coc commented.
  
Asked who is responsible for the illegal logging operations, Coc replied: “That’s what we are trying to get to the bottom of.” She said that Belizean elements are responsible and they use some local Maya to carry out some of the logging works.
  
She explained that they have been trying to track where the illegally harvested rosewood has been going, and it appears that after leaving north Toledo, the woods are then sent all the way to China. No financial estimate of the value of woods lost by illegal logging has been made, Coc informed.
  
The MLA said that there are 2 orders of the Supreme Court which require that the government and its officials neither acquiesce nor tolerate such activity, and, furthermore, “that they act to halt and prevent third parties from interfering with Maya Villages’ use and occupation of lands.”
  
If the government fails to do that, said the MLA, it would be in breach of the Court orders.
 
Meanwhile, the Maya are still awaiting a ruling from the Court of Appeal, which may be handed down in October, on their claim for recognition of customary land rights, and other associated natural resource rights, in Toledo. Coc said that no date has yet been given.

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