2007 Speeches

PACT Foundation First Grant Award Ceremony - Tropical Forest Conservation Act - July 6, 2007

Guanacaste National Park

A pleasant morning to all.

Thank you for the invitation to participate in the Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) Foundation’s first ceremony to commemorate its small grants awards. 

I am pleased that the United States, under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), is able to provide funds that can help protect and preserve many of Belize’s tropical forests, which are so vital to the people Belize and to the country's expanding tourism industry. 

The TFCA Agreement signed in 2001 is expected to generate 9 million US Dollars over 26 years for Belize’s forests, conserving thousands of acres of ecologically and economically essential ecosystems. 

Since 1998, the United States Congress linked debt relief and forest conservation through the Tropical Forest Conservation Act.  This legislation provided relief from certain debt in exchange for the redirection of payments to support forest conservation in host countries.  As of December 2006, the United States invested 83 million US Dollars in congressionally appropriated funds to conclude Tropical Forest Conservation Act Agreements in 11 countries.  The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the World Wildlife Fund contributed an additional 9.6 million US Dollars.  In future years, these projects will generate an estimated 137 million US Dollars in grants and projects around the world to protect and manage tropical forests.  The subsidized swaps alone under the program are expected to conserve over 47 million acres of forest land globally.

The PACT Foundation is a key part of the 2001 Tropical Forest Conservation Act Agreement between Belize and the United States, a debt swap agreement to which The Nature Conservancy is also a party. 

Continued investments should benefit the forests of the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor;

promote public awareness in important forested parks like Guanacaste and St. Herman’s Blue Hole; and

protect the biodiversity of the Rio Bravo Conservation Area. 

These efforts help to protect Belize’s biodiversity, and today’s grants are a gesture of support for sound stewardship elsewhere in Belize.

In many ways, Belize is a leader at promoting co-management between the government and grassroots organizations like those being recognized today.  It is my hope that the PACT Foundation will serve as a bridge between the experienced government and NGO leaders that constitute its board and the broader community.  As the broader co-management community voices its needs and limitations, the PACT Foundation Board will become better able to assess how to extend a helping hand in the future and that all assistance is administered through mechanisms that are transparent, accountable and results oriented.

And so today I congratulate the first group of recipients of the PACT Foundation small grants awards.  The total amount of funds to be provided is BZ $225,647, including a contribution of nearly BZ $9,000 from the PACT Trust.

BZ $40,000 - The Itzamna Society for the general management and training in the Eligio Panti National Park

$39,980 - The Ya’ axche Conservation Trust for general park management of the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve

$39,959 - Steadfast Tourism and Conservation Association for general management of the Billy Barquedier National Park

$39,951 - Aguacaliente Management Team for general park management in the Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary

$39,495 - The Community Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Conservation Group for general management and training in the Community Baboon Sanctuary

$20,262 - Forest and Marine Reserves Association of Caye Caulker (FAMRACC) for general park management and research    

Thank you.