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Guats continue to steal rosewood from Sarstoon

FeaturesGuats continue to steal rosewood from Sarstoon

SATIIM sounds alarm against incursions at Black Creek

On the heels of reports from Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD) in western Belize, that encroachments by Guatemalans seeking greener pastures in Belize for illegal logging and gold panning are venturing further and further inland, and even coming by groups numbering in the hundreds, there is a report now coming out of extreme southern Belize of incursions by a group of Guatemalans, who, reports indicate, have been targeting the Sarstoon Temash National Park (STNP) for the illegal logging of the highly prized rosewood.

Last year, the Central American rosewood species received expanded CITES protection on a bid from Belize for the greater protection of the species; and those provisions require more detailed documentation of sustainable harvesting and proper certification for rosewood to be traded on the international market. However, it appears that the illegal trade of rosewood is on the increase, and Belizean rosewood, it appears, continues to be a prime target.

Greg Ch’oc, executive director of the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM), told Amandala this evening that SATIIM rangers—who have made three monitoring trips to the area since support from the Belize Defence Force was suspended last September—came upon a sizeable illegal logging site within the national park, where 36 rosewood flitches (appearing to be 6’ by 6’ and 6’ by 7’) were found very near to the Black Creek tributary of the Sarstoon River. They also found some fuel containers.

The rangers assessed the area and found that some men had been working illegally in the area. The men, upon hearing the patrol boat being used by the SATIIM rangers, disappeared into the forest.

Ch’oc said that the incident happened around 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and when the rangers radioed Punta Gorda to report the incident, they were instructed to return to town immediately, since illegal loggers are usually armed. By the time the SATIIM team returned it was nearing dark, and they could not stay much longer, because the estuary area is very dangerous to navigate late in the evening.

“The rangers heard a lot of shouting in the forest,” said Ch’oc, who said that the loggers communicated by whistling to each other.

The team returned today with military reinforcement in a boat borrowed from the Fisheries Department to the same site and found that all the rosewood logs had been removed from the site—even those not yet on the side of the river. What was left behind was clear evidence that a major camp site had been set up, as the rangers found tarp and bedding in the forest.

Ch’oc said that they were able to determine that the illegal loggers had been on a very organized operation, focused on the extraction of rosewood.

“We haven’t seen this level of well-organized operation,” said Ch’oc, who told us that the creation of seismic trails by US Capital Energy’s operations opened up more pathways which give greater access to the illegal loggers.

Ch’oc said that last July, the Government of Belize rescinded its agreement with SATIIM for the co-management of the national park, and in September, they instructed the BDF to stop accompanying SATIIM patrols to the area. However, SATIIM rangers have still periodically gone on monitoring trips, despite the increased security risk that rangers now face.

According to Ch’oc, the site where the illegal logging took place is just minutes from Guatemala, and the illegal loggers need only travel about 100 to 150 feet to get to the other side of the border.

He underscored the need for the Government of Belize to step up its military surveillance in the area, since not having any Belize agencies present there gives impression to the Guatemalans that it is “no-man’s land.”

According to Ch’oc, Guatemalan authorities are similarly grappling with the illegal logging of rosewood on their side of the border.

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