Through the Hearth of the Forest (Belize)

Will Maheia

Born in Punta Gorda, in the south of Belize, Wil Maheia loves his land and knows well its resources. After studying art and ecology, and obtaining a natural sciences degree at the University of Idaho, Wil worked for the Dry Tortugas park in Florida and for the parks department in the city of Baltimore. Now he has returned home determined to defend his country's environment at any cost.
"I grew up loving nature, I guess I was influenced by my grandfather who used to have a plantation, and he used to take me there all the time to work in the plantation, to plant beans, plant rice, plant corn. Then my dad, he would always take me fishing out to the Snake Cays, which is still pretty beautiful.Little has changed in this area over the past 25 years.When I went to the US where my parents had moved, I realized I was in the wrong place, I needed to come back to where I felt more at home. When I first came back home, I was offered jobs in Belize City because there were no jobs available here, and I refused to work anywhere outside of this district, outside of my home town. So, in the meantime, to get some money,I took a job as a bus conductor, and to make a difference there as a conductor, I made sure that all the buses running from Punta Gorda to Belize City had a garbage container in there - something that we are not used to in this part of the world yet.

 Then, the Belize Centre for Environmental Studies came online. They wanted to establish a base in the south, to really help communities look at alternative means of development, and that's why they hired me to work in that area. In a country like Belize, the Center for Environmental Studies and Wil himself cannot allow the government to ignore the controversial land use decisions imposed on it by multinationals. Bananas, it's a major part of Belizians' economy, it is a part of the economy of the entire Central America, it is also a mono crop. With mono crops, there are risks involved: a disease could come and wipe this entire plantation out.

 One of the pressures that we are facing now is foreign companies coming into Belize and wanting logging concessions - it's a very controversial topic, it's a very touchy issue, but it is something that we Belizians have to deal with. Right now there is a big thing going on with Malaysian companies wanting to come and log in our forests, but we are very concerned because they have big equipment, they could come in and clearcut - because we know that Malaysians have a clearcut reputation. If they cut our forests, who will support our wildlife, where will our wildlife go? I used to go out fishing and catch a lot of fish, but these days, now, I notice that the fishes are getting less and less, you know, the fishermen are complaining, you know, but it boils down to one thing, equipment they call gill net. Gill net is a killer. They are certain fishermen who just make gill nets purposely for lobster, for catching lobster alone, but that catch lobster, fish, turtles, manatees, just everything, even down to the coral rocks. I mean, when they pull it up, you know they pull up the coral, so they are just destroying the reef. When I go to a community,and I see the people in Monkey River,after we have talked with them, they voluntarily took their nets that were destroying the reefs, and they destroyed their nets, for me, that's a big reward.

 My long time goals and objectives for this area are to see that we improve our standard of living while still living in a healthy and natural environment. When I have kids I want them to enjoy the same things that I enjoyed, going to the Snake Cays and swimming with the manatees and the dolphins, or going to the rainforest and seeing a jaguar hopping over the creeks. I had the opportunity to see those things and I want that my kids and all the kids of Belize and maybe the world to come here and see those things."