Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Belize
is a country which holds its natural resources and native lands and animals in
high esteem. The Belize Audubon Society is one of those organizations that
makes it their priority to protect the land and the creatures that live on it.
Today, we heard from Dirk Francisco who talked about the protected areas that the
Belize Audubon Society (BAS) protects and their mission for doing this. He
stated that their mission is to be “dedicated to the sustainable management of
our natural resources… in order to create a balance between people and
environment.” They achieve this through the nine protected areas they manage.
These areas cover much
of the country’s ecosystems so that the animals and nature systems are kept
safe and thriving. Their management consists of a lot of work in the community and
understanding what needs to be helped in the ecosystem. They advocate, have
community outreach, do environmental education, and research. They face a lot
of challenges as they try to protect these areas that are very similar to what other conservation organizations face, especially Friends for Conservation and Development.
As Dirk Francisco
talked, you could tell that he was passionate about what he does and wants to
make a change for the better. They environment is an extremely talked about
subject in Belize because of the development of the coast and the looting of
the forests. They have amazing places that they want to keep safe and that is what
BAS is trying to accomplish with the help of other organizations like them. They
have to have passion to do their job because it is a struggle every day to
combat the effects of humans on environment. Their passion is contagious and I
hope that it will rub off on me as I go home to the U.S. My passion may not be
in saving the environment, but I think that all of our passions influence
society and the environment in some way.
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