Deforestation in Belize

Cowboys have come to Belize. So have the loggers and plantation owners. Like so many other ill-considered wealth schemes that have shaped our global climate and financial crises, land speculators in Belize completely disregard the long-term impact of their greed. The loggers, mostly from China, Japan and Indonesia clear-cut thousands of acres of rainforest and reap enormous profits by shipping exotic tropical lumber to the global market.

Plantation owners and cattle ranchers have not fared so well. American and European land speculators, already intoxicated by the American real estate bubble, came to Belize to buy cheap land upon which to build lucrative citrus, cocoa and banana plantations and money making cattle ranches. Evidently, “due diligence” did not occur to them. Otherwise they would have known that Belize’s lush rainforest canopy disguises rotting vegetation and a thin layer of soil that is poor and devoid of nutrients. Once the trees are burned or bulldozed, all that’s left is a lifeless tract of dirt that quickly erodes. The grass that does manage to grow is sparse, wiry and incapable of sustaining the cattle trucked in to eat it. So the ranchers, desperate to salvage their operations, rip out more rainforest in a futile attempt to provide enough food for their cows. When that fails, land speculators either offer their land at bargain basement prices or file bankruptcy and abandon them altogether.

They leave in their wake, the stubble of dead forests and land that is uninhabitable for 4,000 species of flowers, 500 species of birds and 877 species of animals, including the endangered Belize Jaguar.

Nor do the land speculators show much regard for the laws of Belize. In 1986, the government banned all hunting of jaguars. Even so, as cowboys and loggers encroach into jaguar habitat, they do not hesitate to kill every jaguar they encounter, even cubs. It is estimated that as few as 600 Belize Jaguars survive in the wild today.

Saving the Belize Jaguar

Professor Alan Rabinowitz, American biologist and jaguar expert worked tirelessly with the Belize Government in 1986 to establish the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary & Jaguar Preserve, a critical first step. But much more is needed to end the mass destruction of habitat that threatens to drive the Belize Jaguar to extinction. Ironically, failed cattle ranches provide perfect opportunities for cost-effective reforestation of jaguar habitat.

The Rainforest Trust recently announced that reforestation of Belize is one of its top priorities and is working closely with the Eco-Protection Society to acquire failed cattle ranches. Defunct properties can be purchased for all-time low prices and come complete with the necessary infrastructure, such as access roads and buildings to house forestry workers. The ranches have already been cleared for pastureland, saving labor and time. Labor costs are comparatively low in Belize and volunteers, including indigenous peoples, are readily available to help reforest the Belize Jaguar’s habitat in hopes that the magnificent cat will survive.

Reforestation Project

The Rainforest Trust has already secured 2,000 acres of still-pristine rainforest land. Their goal, with your help, is to acquire as much land and as many abandoned cattle ranches as possible to reforest and/or protect as Belize Jaguar habitat.

Time is of the essence. Poachers regularly ignore protective boundaries, and the rainforest continues to fall beneath the ax of land speculation. The fate of the Belize Jaguar hangs by an ever more slender thread. The Rainforest Trust and the Eco-Protection Society are calling for members, donors and volunteers to help move this project quickly. Savvy green investors, who understand that not all banks are brick and mortar, are also welcome.