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### Viewing cable 06SANJOSE2800, BELIZE: TROPICAL FOREST CONSERVATION ACT OVERSIGHT BOARD

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
06SANJOSE2800 | 2006-12-21 16:04 | 2011-03-14 18:06 | UNCLASSIFIED | Embassy San Jose

Appears in these articles:
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-12/Investigacion/NotasDestacadas/Investigacion2711772.aspx
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-10/Investigacion/NotasDestacadas/Investigacion2707705.aspx
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-10/Investigacion/NotasSecundarias/Investigacion2707712.aspx
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-10/Investigacion/NotasSecundarias/Investigacion2707716.aspx

`

    VZCZCXYZ0000
    RR RUEHWEB

    DE RUEHSJ #2800/01 3551633
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    R 211633Z DEC 06
    FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
    TO RUEHBE/AMEMBASSY BELMOPAN 0007
    RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6883
    INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
    RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0788
    RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 3843
    RUEHBH/AMEMBASSY NASSAU 0247
    RUEHWN/AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN 0743
    RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0555
    RUEHGE/AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN 0418
    RUEHKG/AMEMBASSY KINGSTON 0764
    RUEHPO/AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO 0327
    RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN 0453
    RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0029

` `

    UNCLAS SAN JOSE 002800

    SIPDIS

    SIPDIS

    STATE FOR OES/PCI (LSPERLING)AND WHA/CEN (JMACK)
    STATE PLEASE PASS TO AID
    AID FOR SCOTT LAMPMAN
    SANTO DOMINGO FOR MICHAEL DONALD

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: SENV ECON PGOV EAGR SOCI BH
    SUBJECT:  BELIZE: TROPICAL FOREST CONSERVATION ACT OVERSIGHT BOARD
    MEETING

    ¶1.  SUMMARY.  REO attended the November 2, 2006 meeting of the
    Belize Tropical Forest Conservation Act Oversight Committee in
    remote Punta Gorda.  The meeting provided an opportunity to review
    2006 NGO reports, which focused on community outreach and
    enforcement activities, and approve 2007 workplans.  While the PACT
    Foundation reported agreement in principle on guidelines for
    managing Foundation monies intended for a small grants program,
    subsequent private conversations suggested that differences among
    Foundation Board members may result in tasking another entity to
    manage Foundation funds.  Oversight Committee members recommended to
    REO that a second debt for nature swap be considered.  END SUMMARY.

    ¶2.  REO attended the November 2 Board meeting of the Belize Tropical
    Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) Oversight Committee meeting (the
    Committee) in Punta Gorda, Belize at Toledo Institute for
    Development and Environment (TIDE) headquarters.  Members of the
    Committee included Artemio Osorio (Ministry of Finance);  Wilbur
    Sabido (Ministry of Natural Resources); Marnix Perez (Protected
    Areas Conservation Trust-PACT);  Valdemar Andrade (PACT Foundation -
    the Foundation); Anna Hoare (Belize Audubon Society-BAS);  Edilberto
    Romero (Programme for Belize-PfB);  Alex Martinez (Nature
    Conservancy); Wil Maheia (Toledo Institute for Development and
    Environment -TIDE); and REO on behalf of U.S. Embassy Belize.  Also
    in attendance were Dominique Lizama (BAS), Herbert Haylock (PfB);
    and Angelica Chavarria (TIDE).

    PATIENCE WEARS THIN OVER FOUNDATION NEGOTIATIONS
    ------------------------------------

    ¶3.  Andrade briefed the Committee on the status of the Foundation
    established by the U.S.-Belize TFCA agreement to support small
    grants to the wider Belize environmental NGO community.  Divisions
    on the Foundation Board (the Board) between the NGOs (BAS, PfB, and
    TIDE) and government (PACT) prevented both agreement on procedures
    for managing Foundation funds and the scheduled October call for
    projects.  (These divisions prompted NGO to insist that the
    Foundation hired its own lawyer to avoid relying on PACT counsel.)
    PACT and NGO Board members also differed over the base for
    calculating PACT's proposed 15 percent fee.  PACT wished the base to
    be Foundation income earned (NGOs argued that PACT would have no
    incentive to actually disburse funds) while NGOs wished to apply the
    percentage on actual monies disbursed (which placed the risk of
    delay in decision-making on PACT).  Andrade reported that the
    November 2 Foundation Board meeting reached an agreement in
    principle on the issue, but NGOs reserved judgement until they could
    scrutinize the fine print.

    ¶4.  Both NGOs and PACT privately raised the possibility that the
    Foundation administrator (currently PACT) might be replaced if
    agreement could not be reached.  The three NGOs argued that any one
    of them can manage Foundation funds as effectively as PACT.  Should
    the fund migrate to another institution, PACT would prefer to remove
    "PACT" from the Foundation name in order to establish a new vehicle
    for fundraising.

    HIGHLIGHTS OF NGO REPORTS
    -------------------------

    ¶5.  All reports emphasized improvement to park infrastructure like
    new guardhouses, renovated trails and renovated quarters. Each also
    highlighted community outreach, ranging from educational
    presentations to children's activities.  The three NGOs noted that
    their freedom to cover park staff salaries gave them the security to
    leverage funds for more innovative projects than would otherwise be
    the case.

    ¶6.  BELIZE AUDUBON SOCIETY (BAS)

    Seventy percent of Land Management funds were used to cover the
    salaries of ten field staff to manage 9 protected areas.  The
    balance was used for administrative support and as partial payment
    for its Executive Director, accountant and Park Manager.  Highlights
    included:

    --  Outreach to surrounding landowners to share information about

    illegal loggers and hunters transiting property.
    --  Cooperation with Armenia Mayan Women's Group to build a
    community gift shop, conduct birding walks, and hold a clean-up
    campaign.
    --  Mapped Saint Herman's Blue Hole and Guanacaste National Parks
    and conducted overflights and joint patrols with police and defense
    forces.

    ¶7.  TOLEDO INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT (TIDE)

    TIDE's 2007 goals largely mirrored its 2006 activities.  Of
    particular interest were its outreach efforts on behalf of the
    endangered Hicattee turtle and the second season of its innovative
    Freshwater Cup, in which local teams are as competitive in putting
    forward environmental projects as they are on the soccer field.
    Monies were spent on TIDE Private Lands Initiative enhancement,
    pushing its land acquisitions to 23,000 hectares, and on hiring
    rangers, a Science Director and a forest management specialist; and
    conducting river and ground patrols of private lands, including
    alternating patrols with three other NGOs of the Bladen Management
    Area.  TFCA Support helped make possible:

    -- development of a medicinal garden, nurturing of 800 mahogany
    seedlings and the designation of two areas for scientific
    monitoring;
    -- 21 patrols with police and Forest Department officials that
    destroyed three gill nets and posted eleven signs on fishing and
    hunting regulations;
    -- participation in forestry/land conservation conferences and
    training opportunities on fire management, medical emergencies, and
    boat and engine maintenance.

    ¶8.  PROGRAMME FOR BELIZE (PfB)

    PfB manages the Rio Bravo Conservation Area, which constitutes 4
    percent of the country.  In FY 2006, 2/3 of PfB funds covered
    salaries of park personnel; nearly 1/3 was used to cover
    administrative expenses; and 4 percent supported communication
    system maintenance, vehicle repair and aerial reconnaissance.  TFCA
    funds leveraged a Wallace Foundation donation to support the study
    of the endangered Yellow Hooded Parrot.  Rangers reported an
    increase in poaching and illegal fishing, to which they responded
    with increased patrols; detected and destroyed 5 marijuana fields;
    and halted two illegal logging operations that resulted in charges
    against 6 persons and 2 convictions.

    RAISING A SECOND DEBT SWAP WITH TREASURY
    ------------------------------------

    ¶9.  Regardless of differences over the Foundation, Oversight
    Committee members were enthusiastic about a second debt swap, which
    Osorio valued at USD 3.5 million.  While attending the November 7-9
    Environmental Fund Network for Latin America and the Caribbean (Red
    de Fondos Ambientales de Latinoamerica y el Caribe -REDLAC), Andrade
    and REO raised the recommendation with Department of Treasury
    official Katie Berg.  Berg took the request under consideration,
    noted the requirements to be met, and observed that the delay in
    implementing the Foundation did not strengthen the case for a second
    swap.  She emphasized that more detailed reporting from NGOs on the
    fruits of their expenditures would be useful, and inquired how
    administrative fees authorized by the agreement were used.

    PUNTA GORDA:  NOT ON THE WAY FROM ANYWHERE TO ANYWHERE ELSE
    -----------------------------------

    ¶10.  TIDE Director Wil Meheia confirmed that he planned to leave
    TIDE in December to run for the national legislature.  Frustrated
    with a government unresponsive to Toledo District needs, Meheia is
    founding a new political party that will combat corruption and
    promote local NGO takes on environmental issues.

    ¶11.  Belize's last Caribbean cultural outpost before the Mayan
    culturescape straddling the Guatemalan border, Punta Gorda's few
    thousands are a mix of Creole (African-European), Garifuna
    (Carib-African), Mestizo, and Mayan peoples, with a small but

    economically important population of East Indians, Chinese, and
    Mennonites.  Relatively untouched by beach or cruise ship-driven
    development, a new road and six-hour drive from the capital has not
    overcome Punta Gordans' self-perception as out of sight and out of
    mind to Belmopan.  Enough adventure tourists and aficionados of
    puntarock (modernized Garifuna rhythms) reach Punta Gorda to justify
    adding 2 or even 3 stories to the family homes-cum-inns lining the
    shore.  Outside the town, bed and breakfasts, farms and fishing
    lodges seek to bolster eco-tourism in Toledo District.  Their
    expatriate owners are not a new phenomenon, as the graves of
    Confederate refugees testify.

    ¶12.  Toledo District hosts many NGOs and sustainable development
    efforts, of which TIDE is the most successful.  The Toledo
    Association for Tourism and Empowerment (TASTE), a consortium of
    tourist businesses in the district, administers idyllic Sopadilla
    Cays.  Various Mayan community organizations support (with Peace
    Corps help) the marketing of wood crafts and other products, offer
    Mayan village homestays, and administer community lands, including
    the dramatic Rio Blanco falls.  British organic chocolate maker
    Black and Green, purveyors of the orange-accented "Maya Gold" dark
    chocolate bars, worked with the local cacao growers to replant with
    native cacao - genetic tests, it claimed, show that it is the
    original source stock.  Local boosters are planning a 2007 cacao
    festival in the nearby, evocative Mayan ruins of Lubaantun, where,
    some claim, the cacao tree was first cultivated.

    LANGDALE

`