Belize National Teachers Union, youtu.be/bu6ypeooI5U I am writing you in support of Friends of Conservation and Development (FCD) and their efforts for the Chiquibul Forest and in particular for the incredible critical work of the Park Rangers there. Attached is a flyer on same. The Park Ranger program is integral to the work of the FCD by providing daily monitoring of the Chiquibul Forest (Caracol Archaeological Reserve, The Chiquibul National Park and the Chiquibul Forest Reserve). FCD does ongoing research on the biodiversity within the forest, monitoring of the natural environment, checking trails, providing regular inspections and noting potential risks and safety hazards to the relevant authorities. FCD currently has 6 park rangers covering about 400,000 acres. To effectively cover the grounds of the Chiquibul Forest it requires 24. This was one of the key recommendations coming out of the Chiquibul National Symposium last year. The rangers are highly trained (jungle military style) men and work closely with the law enforcers (primarily the BDF, the Police, the Forest Department, etc). It is very difficult terrain to cover; however, these rangers are trained to live and work in this environment staying months at a time. The cost to have a park ranger provide these services is BZ$24,000. We as FCD volunteers are organising this telethon for Saturday, October 18th 2014 at the Memorial Park from 10a.m to 6p.m. We are very pleased to say we have gotten the support of all the media houses who are covering the event live on radio and tv, BTL and SMART and we already have Belizean artists who have confirmed. We would greatly appreciate the support of the BNTU and its various chapters and members of this important initiative in helping to spread the word about the telethon and if at all possible to to encourage pledges and donations. During the coming days we will be announcing the telethon numbers to call on the day of the telethon (Oct 18th) and of course persons can also go to Memorial Park in Belize City and make their donation there in addition to making online donation on that day as well as direct deposit to the telethon Atlantic Bank account which will be opened as of Tuesday. Educating Belizeans (especially our children) of the importance of conserving, protecting and safeguarding our natural and cultural resources goes a long way for the future sustainability of Chiquibul and all other rich biodiversity areas of Belize. Recognizing the value and courageous work of the park rangers (particularly in Chiquibul) and ensuring that it has enough park rangers is an urgent need to help sustain the Chiquibul Forest. Your participation and support would be greatly appreciated for this worthy and urgent cause.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 02:41:44 +0000