INTRODUCTION The Scarlet Macaw is the most widely distributed (Mexico to Brazil) of the 17 existing macaw species (Wiedenfeld 1994). Presently two subspecies have been identified being Ara macao cyanoptera (ranges from southern Mexico to southeast Nicaragua) and A. macao macao (ranges from extreme south of Nicaragua to Brazil and Bolivia) (Schmidt 2008). Scarlet Macaws […]

FCD and Asociación Balam sign partnership agreement In 2011, FCD signed a partnership agreement with Byron Castellanos, Executive Director of Asociación Balam, which solidified a working relationship between the two organizations. The mission of Balam is to conserve the integrated natural and cultural patrimony and the incorporation of civil society in management. Its focal area […]

Mitigating Illegal Logging A recent paper produced by the World Bank titled Justice for Forests notes that every two seconds, across the world, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear cut by illegal loggers. In some countries, up to 90% of all logging is illegal. Belize also suffers from illegal […]

INTRODUCTION Belize has the greatest percentage (62.7%) of forest cover in the Mesoamerican Region (Cherrington et al. 2010); where 36% of its terrestrial component is under some form of legal protection. The Chiquibul Forest (CF) composed of the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, Chiquibul National Park and the Caracol Archeological Reserve is the largest single block of […]

Guatemalan Leaders visit Chiquibul On the 25th and 26th of February a visit was conducted by alcaldes from Melchor de Mencos, Poptun, Dolores and San Luis to the Chiquibul forest. Each one of the alcaldes were accompanied by 2-3 other councilors. The visitors visited Caracol, an illegal logging site, and a xate trail used by […]