It is quite interesting to see my people fighting each other over an issue that they will probably never truly profit from. SATIIM is fighting to maintain its monitoring position over the park backed by international environmental NGOs, while the communities are fighting to gain a few small crumbs from the table of US Capital Energy. Truly they should have resolved this issue among themselves before making it bare before the rest of the nation. But the forces behind the scenes are much stronger and are interested more in the resource rather than the people themselves.

The exploitation of any resource is essential to realize growth and income. The problem is the manner in which such exploitation is carried out and the structure of the distribution of the wealth generated. The forests, for instance, can either be cut down for timber or preserved for eco-tourism. Who decides is normally the stronger of the two; the one with more resources at his disposal.

A similar scenario played out once in Toledo with the Malaysian logging companies. In the end the Malaysians were allowed to log out the community lands. The arguments were strikingly similar. Those who wanted the Malaysians to operate pointed to the jobs logging would bring. Today, however, the Malaysians have left. They did take the trees and made their profits. The people did work, for a short term, but today they are without jobs and the trees are gone for good.

I can understand the arguments of the people who wish to have the oil company operate in their area. The poverty and underdevelopment in Toledo are high, especially in Mayan communities, so any job is seen as a great prize. The desperation poverty produces will make a drowning man grab on to a straw. This, of course, plays well for the oil company which is absolutely keen on the possibility of drilling for oil. Poor people can easily be manipulated and this is what the oil company is doing. US Capital Energy is operating on some seriously questionable business ethics. They are fully aware of their manipulation yet they continue to do it. If this is how they operate now, can they fully be trusted in the future?

The other issue is that of the Sarstoon-Temash National Park itself. The Government created this park in 1994 without consulting the people it now pretends to care for and support. Forty- one thousand acres of community lands were basically taken away, since under the park rules the people were no longer permitted to use it and their livelihood activities were criminalized. What is the purpose of establishing the park if the people, who now support the oil company, themselves are not permitted to use that very same park? The Government of Belize permits a foreign oil company to use the park but prevents poor subsistence indigenous farmers from doing so. The Government itself is operating on some questionable ethics. Can we trust them in the future too? Interestingly, SATIIM, is helping the government enforce the rules of the park through a management agreement except now the government seems to have changed the rules half way.

I would like to encourage my Mayan brothers and sisters to ease up on the rhetoric and sit down to find a way out. If the oil company will be allowed to explore for oil in the park then we must demand more than just trail-clearing jobs. The people who are giving unadulterated support to the oil company must demand direct benefits from the profits of exploration if and when oil is found. Oil drilling is a risky business for the people and the environment and we have learned this from experience. It causes damage to the environment and human health and a small wage will not be enough to cover and compensate such costs.

If the park is allowed to remain untouched then the development of economic alternatives that brings immediate and long term benefit must be instituted urgently. The government cannot stand by and grin at this situation and pretend to be uninvolved in the divide and conquer tactics of the ethically irresponsible oil company. It too has to answer to the people for taking away community lands and livelihoods without alternatives and compensation. It too has to say exactly how the resources gained will be used to benefit the people especially those from the communities most directly affected. We don?t want to have a Nigeria situation here. The resources of our country must be exploited or preserved to the benefit of our nation. There is still time to get this one right.

In the name of social justice,

Valentino Shal, M Sc.

(Environment and Development)