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The Mayas of Toledo are outraged at the monstrous propects of logging the Belize rainforest for the production of plywood by the Atlantic International Company Ltd. Mr. Ting Jack Hung, a Malaysian, claims to have received a concession from the Government of Belize to log 200,000 acres in the Columbia Forest Reserve. Two buildings are currently under construction near the Jimmy Cut road which will house a wood-finishing plant. Several pieces of heavy equipment, including generators, CAT-earth-movers, and large trucks have been moved into a clearing in the forest near the Mayan village of San José. Several aspects of this plan would shock the Belizean public and international community of conservationists.
The world stands to lose a precious environmental resource. The 200,000 acres of rainforest slated to be logged for Malaysian profits constitutes a unique ecological jewel. The Columbia Forest Reserve, located in the northwestern corner of the Toledo District, borders Guatemala to the west, Chiquibal National Park and Bladen Nature Reserve to the north, the Mayan Communities Forest to the east and several Mayan Indian Reservations to the south. Charles Wright, a prolific scholar and writer on the natural resources of Belize, has written that the Columbia Forest Reserve is a "very significant biological relic" which "may lead to further ecological discoveries of tremendous importance for the human race." Furthermore, ecologist Martin Meadows has stated that "this area is one of very special interest and not represented, to my knowledge, anywhere else in Belize, and possibly not anywhere in Central America... any change in land use could result in millions of years of tropical rainforest evolution vanishing forever." In short, this logging concession represents a massive transgression against the Belizean ecological heritage.
Rainforest is being traded away for pennies. The license for this concession is for $250,000 BZ, or approximately 60 cents US per acre. This is a giveaway! The revenue that the government intends to collect is far less than the everlasting damage to the ecological habitat and indigenous people of Toledo. It is unclear who will ultimately profit from the logging of the forest reserve.
A quiet secrecy about the entire deal disturbs the Maya people. A meeting was held in San José on 8 October 1995; the meeting was attended by Honourable Dennis Usher, Mr. Colvert Supaul, a local businessman and the concession holder, Wayne Bardalez of the Forest Department and Mr. Ben Piper of the Center for Environmental Studies. The Mayan people were furious to learn that they were consulted about the possibility of logging in the region only after the concession had been granted. Had the local Mayan people not demanded a meeting with Mr. Supaul and Minister Usher, they probably would never have been informed of the logging!
The logging operation could open the door for further exploitation of Indian lands in the Toledo District. The local Mayas, who see themselves as the custodians of the forest, regard this undertaking as blatantly disrespectful to their dignity. Any foreign intervention is questioned within the communities which border the forest reserve and by all of the Mayan communities within the district. Many local Mayas wonder, if, after logging, any land will be left for a Maya Homeland. Given the tenuous character of Maya land claims in the region, an intrusion of exploitative, land-destroying operations directly threatens the Mayan communities. This foreign logging scheme could open up the region for further foreign development with little or no regard for the indigenous people, serves as evidence that Mayan people in Toledo need much stronger legal land tenure to existing reservations and the urgency to consider the proposition of a Mayan homeland.
Given these immediate concerns, we ask the Government of Belize to:
1. consult the surrounding villages of San Pedro Columbia, Crique Jute, San José, Na Luum Kah and San Antonio, as well as the Alcalde Association, Toledo Maya Cultural Council (TMCC), Reservation Lands Committee (RLC), and Kekchi Council of Belize (KCB), to discuss the logging operation;
2. explain the extent, type and quality of employment opportunities resulting from the logging;
3. upgrade the roads and bridges connecting San José, Na Luum Kah, Crique Jute, San Antonio, and San Pedro Columbia;
4. conduct an environment impact statement for this logging scheme;
5. reforest the area by planting two trees for every one felled;
6. be sensitive to the potential of the rainforest for ecotourism;
7. oversee and publicize the disposal of chemical wastes;
8. employ and train Alcaldes (mayors) and Chairmen in the surrounding villages to oversee the logging operation;
9. insure access for local people to the forest during logging operations; and
10. agree to link consultations regarding this logging operation with the proposal for a Mayan homeland.o
For more information, contact:
Julian Cho, Chairman
Reservation Lands Committee
Punta Gorda Town, Toledo District, BELIZE
tel: 01-501-7-22226
Estevan Assi, Chairman
Toledo Maya Cultural Council
Laguna Village, Toledo District, BELIZE
tel: 01-501-7-22970
Armstrong Wiggins
Indian Law Resource Center
601 E Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003
tel: 202-547-2800Reprinted from The Belize Times, Sunday, 5 November 1995
Fourth World Bulletin • Spring/Summer 1996
Copyright © 1996 by the Fourth World Center
Created by Aigis Communications, Ltd