The Chiquibul forest serves as a watershed for the Belize River and is home to the headwaters of this river that provides water to over 40% of our Belizean population. The Chiquibul National Park is the largest in the country, comprising 285,937 acres of terrestrial protected area. It harbors the largest cave system in Central America, dreamlike waterfalls, natural pools, and a megadiverse ecosystem on par with globally important hotspots like the Amazon. The wider Chiquibul forest, which represents over 400,000 acres of broadleaf forest, comprises 17 ecosystems with over 662 species of plants and over 786 species of fauna recorded to date.
Iconic species like the jaguar, globally endangered Baird’s tapir, crocodiles, and Scarlet Macaws call the Chiquibul forest their home.
Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD), a proud member of BNN, also calls it home. They have been custodians and co-managers of the national park since 2007. Today, FCD is a household name and is well-revered for its tireless work protecting biodiverse ecosystems across Belize. Yet competing interests continue to make its already difficult work more arduous. The organization’s history and time in the jungle, however, have their roots in youth action and environmental advocacy.
Threats in the Chiquibul forest are multiple and compounded by ecological damage. From illegal logging to xaté palm extraction, poaching, illegal cattle ranching, gold mining, drug cultivation, and even looting of Maya artifacts, the historical and contemporary list of threats to the area goes on. Yes, a lot of these are driven by Guatemalan incursions into the forest, but degradation from our approved development on our side is a concern that requires vigilance as it puts at risk the critical watershed so many Belizeans depend on.
There are no limits to the number of threats facing the Chiquibul, making the work of FCD as important and relevant as it’s always been.
“If FCD were not present for all these years in those remote locations doing protection and conservation, what would the landscape be like today?” NGO Senator Janelle Chanona asked during her address at the adjournment of a Senate meeting in December 2025.
“Conservation organizations like FCD are not the obstacles to development, quite the contrary. They are part of the foundation that has made lawful access, safety, and opportunity possible in the first place,” she said.
This is why it came as a surprise to the organization when, after two decades of management, it ran into administrative bottlenecks of accessing areas within the Chiquibul forest it had previously accessed for research and other not for profit activities.
The NGO Senator shared that FCD personnel were being prevented from reaching their locations of work, and the organization’s activities were being restricted, including signature Scarlet Macaw research and biomonitoring, which has been ongoing by FCD for years. At the time, she reported “serious delays” in getting the usual permits for FCD to do this work, as well as delays in support letters from the government ministry, potentially causing the ‘loss of grant funding’.”
Senator Chanona recommended that a multi-stakeholder governance body for the Chiquibul be established and that a sustainable development plan for the entire Chiquibul-Mountain Pine Ridge-Caracol complex be approved.
“So that all the institutions—government, non-government, private sector, everyone—can be involved and be better aligned in the overall objective of the conservation of the Chiquibul Ecosystem for all Belizeans,” Senator Chanona said.
We are pleased to update that at the time of publication of this newsletter, FCD has been re-granted a research permit to continue its Scarlet Macaw work.
See Senator Chanona’s full remarks start at 6:36:27 at the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/XA83Pk6eE5o?si=hnRiZkugHbZWNKXT&start=23787
