May 3, 2008
Belizean Makes Case for Sensible Development in Her Caribbean Paradise
Save The Mangroves: Don't Cancunize Belize
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Editor
Belize City, Belize (HNN) -- Browsing the April 20, 2008 issue of The Belize Times, I came across a thoughtful, wonderful letter to the editor from a Belize woman studying tourism management in Austria.
Dilma Yolanda Cano -- also known as Yolita -- doesn't want the mangroves that lie along much of the Caribbean coastline of this New Jersey sized nation of less than 300,000 people to be torn up the way they were in Cancun more than three decades ago.
I e-mailed her and expressed my agreement with her ecological sensitivity in a nation that appeals to backpack travelers on a budget, as well as those who would normally go to Cancun, a couple of hundred miles to the north in the bordering Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Cancun has about 600,000 residents -- twice as many as live in the entire nation of Belize -- and wall to wall hotels. Development in Belize is much more restrained, with a few large hotels in Belize City, a few in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye and resorts scattered around the geographically varied nation of mountains, rain forests, savannahs and -- yes-- mangroves. Yolita wrote of the destruction of the mangroves in her native region for a gated community.
I'm reprinting her letter to the editor in full, but first, I'm reprinting her response to my e-mail:
"Went I was little, my grandfather and grandmother would tell us stories in the evenings about the things in the bush. At that time we lived in Blackman Eddy village in the Cayo District. There was no electricity so everything was dark only a hurricane lamp would be shining in the middle of the table inside or if there was a full moon, then you would only see the embers in the fire hearth burning that soft glow of orange and yellow colours.
"We would sit after dinner and the stories would start. There was no TV to distract us. We had a radio but that was for the news and to listen to a one-hour school program for adults.
"My favourite stories were about the fishermen and hunters who over did the fishing or the hunting. And they got punished, always. The forest would get even.
"My grandfather would always finish his stories by saying....'We don't own anything. The rivers, the creeks, the animals, the forest, every single tree has its own owner already. They give us permission to eat the fruits of the trees, hunt the animals for food and fish the fish. But always ask for permission first and never over do it. Never get greedy or else you will get punished. And, if you get lucky...share the food.'
"So I am always saying....we are just guests here on earth. Let's behave. I have been brought up with that mentality...respect nature.
"Yes, there has to be growth and development....but let's not get greedy."
* * *
Thank you for your email. This morning before going to my exam, I decided to check my email and what a lovely surprise to read yours. It made my morning.
It will be a pleasure to forward you a copy of my "article", it sounds nicer if I say article and not letter. And a photograph, so that you can have an image of who is wrote it.
At the moment I am living here in Salzburg, Austria. Just one more month to go and I finish my course on Tourism Marketing and Travel Agency Management. I might be going back home around the ending of August. I am staying for a 3-month internship here and then head home.
You are welcome to go down to Sittee River and visit the committee and the Sittee River Estuaries and see for yourself the beauty of these trees. Let me know so that I can arrange something with the committee. Thank you for making the public aware of the situation. I'll gladly help if you have any questions.
* * *
Belize: The Next Cancun?
Imagine our low-lying coastline clear of all mangroves. Long, man-made beaches, full of visitors but only a few Belizeans employed. Imagine our reefs, all white. Imagine a hurricane hitting our little country; the outcome is we all get flooded, and more than that, we get wiped out! Why?
Mangroves are the nurseries of the coral reef, where young marine animals and nesting birds find a safe haven and the food that enables them to grow and later populate the coral reef. Without mangroves, there will be far fewer fish on the reefs for our tourists and fishermen. Mangroves filter the water coming from our rivers and prevent siltation of the reefs, which can kill the coral.
Mangroves also provide important protection from storm surges in hurricanes, preserving the land and property of coastal residents.
Yet, despite these valuable services and being protected by our Belizean laws, in many places our mangroves are being mowed down by bulldozers right before our eyes. These activities are in clear violation of the mangrove protection laws contained in Chapter 213 of the Subsidiary Laws of Belize.
This is true right here at the north side of the mouth of the Sittee River. The mangroves currently being cleared for the Sittee Estates Subdivision, a private gated community, are thought to be the oldest and tallest in the Western Hemisphere.
We sincerely hope that the new administration at the Ministry of Natural Resources will do the right thing and not allow the development to extend to the south side of the Sittee River mouth. Why not take progressive steps to protecting this area as a Wildlife Sanctuary?
Studies have been made around the world, not only in Belize, regarding mangroves, so why can't we follow those examples and preserve our coastline? There is a reason why God decided that Belize should have lots of mangrove trees growing along the low-lying coastline, instead of long white sandy beaches.
And, we don't need scientists to tell us why, we can just deduce our conclusions by looking around and asking our grandpas and grandmas stories about the good old days when there was plenty of food in the sea. About when storms would hit the coast and about Hurricanes 1931 and 1961's Hattie. Yes, they were great hurricanes and Belize suffered terrible losses, but we were not wiped out. Why? Mangroves.
I am not against the development of my country; on the contrary …I see potential! Not as a mass tourism destination, but as an eco-sustainable attraction, with interesting, long nature-made coastline where nature is in control and not some private foreign company, which leaves almost no profit in the country because it takes the money back home.
Belize should not be following the crowd, but should be pioneering trends for other developing countries to follow. And, we can start with saving the coastline, by saving those defenseless, "ugly looking" mangroves that in the end will feed us, our families and safeguard our land and World Heritage Sites like the beautiful Barrier Reef.
You and I may not see the end result of the destruction of the mangroves, but our children's children will. Let's start thinking for the days after tomorrow, not just tomorrow! Yes, we are a developing country, but let's not grow up in a hurry to be like our big brothers (the developed countries).
Instead, let's set trends for them to follow. Let Belize be the leader when it comes to preserving a country and the many wonderful natural things it has to offer.
So …are we ready to be the next Cancun? Are we ready to give up our coastlines? Are we ready to go into history as the country that preferred having long private white sandy beaches over the well being of our land and families
Sincerely,
Dilma Yolanda Cano
(yolita.mangroves@yahoo.com)
Tourism Marketing and Management, Belizean Student at ITH Salzburg, Austria
And member of the Hopkins/Sittee River Conservation Committee
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Belizean Makes Case for Sensible Development in Her Caribbean Paradise
Save The Mangroves: Don't Cancunize Belize
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Editor
Belize City, Belize (HNN) -- Browsing the April 20, 2008 issue of The Belize Times, I came across a thoughtful, wonderful letter to the editor from a Belize woman studying tourism management in Austria.
Dilma Yolanda Cano -- also known as Yolita -- doesn't want the mangroves that lie along much of the Caribbean coastline of this New Jersey sized nation of less than 300,000 people to be torn up the way they were in Cancun more than three decades ago.
I e-mailed her and expressed my agreement with her ecological sensitivity in a nation that appeals to backpack travelers on a budget, as well as those who would normally go to Cancun, a couple of hundred miles to the north in the bordering Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Cancun has about 600,000 residents -- twice as many as live in the entire nation of Belize -- and wall to wall hotels. Development in Belize is much more restrained, with a few large hotels in Belize City, a few in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye and resorts scattered around the geographically varied nation of mountains, rain forests, savannahs and -- yes-- mangroves. Yolita wrote of the destruction of the mangroves in her native region for a gated community.
I'm reprinting her letter to the editor in full, but first, I'm reprinting her response to my e-mail:
"Went I was little, my grandfather and grandmother would tell us stories in the evenings about the things in the bush. At that time we lived in Blackman Eddy village in the Cayo District. There was no electricity so everything was dark only a hurricane lamp would be shining in the middle of the table inside or if there was a full moon, then you would only see the embers in the fire hearth burning that soft glow of orange and yellow colours.
"We would sit after dinner and the stories would start. There was no TV to distract us. We had a radio but that was for the news and to listen to a one-hour school program for adults.
"My favourite stories were about the fishermen and hunters who over did the fishing or the hunting. And they got punished, always. The forest would get even.
"My grandfather would always finish his stories by saying....'We don't own anything. The rivers, the creeks, the animals, the forest, every single tree has its own owner already. They give us permission to eat the fruits of the trees, hunt the animals for food and fish the fish. But always ask for permission first and never over do it. Never get greedy or else you will get punished. And, if you get lucky...share the food.'
"So I am always saying....we are just guests here on earth. Let's behave. I have been brought up with that mentality...respect nature.
"Yes, there has to be growth and development....but let's not get greedy."
Thank you for your email. This morning before going to my exam, I decided to check my email and what a lovely surprise to read yours. It made my morning.
It will be a pleasure to forward you a copy of my "article", it sounds nicer if I say article and not letter. And a photograph, so that you can have an image of who is wrote it.
At the moment I am living here in Salzburg, Austria. Just one more month to go and I finish my course on Tourism Marketing and Travel Agency Management. I might be going back home around the ending of August. I am staying for a 3-month internship here and then head home.
You are welcome to go down to Sittee River and visit the committee and the Sittee River Estuaries and see for yourself the beauty of these trees. Let me know so that I can arrange something with the committee. Thank you for making the public aware of the situation. I'll gladly help if you have any questions.
| Have a wonderful day! Regards, Yolita |
Belize: The Next Cancun?
Imagine our low-lying coastline clear of all mangroves. Long, man-made beaches, full of visitors but only a few Belizeans employed. Imagine our reefs, all white. Imagine a hurricane hitting our little country; the outcome is we all get flooded, and more than that, we get wiped out! Why?
Mangroves are the nurseries of the coral reef, where young marine animals and nesting birds find a safe haven and the food that enables them to grow and later populate the coral reef. Without mangroves, there will be far fewer fish on the reefs for our tourists and fishermen. Mangroves filter the water coming from our rivers and prevent siltation of the reefs, which can kill the coral.
Mangroves also provide important protection from storm surges in hurricanes, preserving the land and property of coastal residents.
Yet, despite these valuable services and being protected by our Belizean laws, in many places our mangroves are being mowed down by bulldozers right before our eyes. These activities are in clear violation of the mangrove protection laws contained in Chapter 213 of the Subsidiary Laws of Belize.
This is true right here at the north side of the mouth of the Sittee River. The mangroves currently being cleared for the Sittee Estates Subdivision, a private gated community, are thought to be the oldest and tallest in the Western Hemisphere.
We sincerely hope that the new administration at the Ministry of Natural Resources will do the right thing and not allow the development to extend to the south side of the Sittee River mouth. Why not take progressive steps to protecting this area as a Wildlife Sanctuary?
Studies have been made around the world, not only in Belize, regarding mangroves, so why can't we follow those examples and preserve our coastline? There is a reason why God decided that Belize should have lots of mangrove trees growing along the low-lying coastline, instead of long white sandy beaches.
And, we don't need scientists to tell us why, we can just deduce our conclusions by looking around and asking our grandpas and grandmas stories about the good old days when there was plenty of food in the sea. About when storms would hit the coast and about Hurricanes 1931 and 1961's Hattie. Yes, they were great hurricanes and Belize suffered terrible losses, but we were not wiped out. Why? Mangroves.
I am not against the development of my country; on the contrary …I see potential! Not as a mass tourism destination, but as an eco-sustainable attraction, with interesting, long nature-made coastline where nature is in control and not some private foreign company, which leaves almost no profit in the country because it takes the money back home.
Belize should not be following the crowd, but should be pioneering trends for other developing countries to follow. And, we can start with saving the coastline, by saving those defenseless, "ugly looking" mangroves that in the end will feed us, our families and safeguard our land and World Heritage Sites like the beautiful Barrier Reef.
You and I may not see the end result of the destruction of the mangroves, but our children's children will. Let's start thinking for the days after tomorrow, not just tomorrow! Yes, we are a developing country, but let's not grow up in a hurry to be like our big brothers (the developed countries).
Instead, let's set trends for them to follow. Let Belize be the leader when it comes to preserving a country and the many wonderful natural things it has to offer.
So …are we ready to be the next Cancun? Are we ready to give up our coastlines? Are we ready to go into history as the country that preferred having long private white sandy beaches over the well being of our land and families
Sincerely,
Dilma Yolanda Cano
(yolita.mangroves@yahoo.com)
Tourism Marketing and Management, Belizean Student at ITH Salzburg, Austria
And member of the Hopkins/Sittee River Conservation Committee
E-mail HNN Yahoo Google
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
