Belize Lodge Excursions Biodiversity Assessment

Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is working with Golden Stream Corridor Preserve NGO (GSCP NGO) and with Maya communities in Toledo District, particularly Golden Stream and Indian Creek villages, Belize. The objective of the project is to sustainably manage and develop a corridor of forest within the Golden Stream watershed. This reserve has been established around the Golden Stream river to link the foothills of the Maya Mountains Forest Reserve with the core area of the newly-declared Port Honduras Marine Reserve. This corridor, once completed, will measure approximately 25km long as the crow flies. Official recognition of the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve (GSCP) by the MesoAmerican Biological Corridor (MBC) Belize representative has led to the inclusion of the area in the Belize National Corridor scheme as the southeastern component of their section of the MBC. These national and international roles for GSCP may be key to the future conservation of the area given that there is mounting resource-use pressure from logging and agricultural concerns, to which the current administration is sympathetic. The justification for this backing is based upon the fact that Belize has, on paper, a protected area system which totals 40% of the country’s land-use. The GSCP area must therefore also pay its way, particularly in terms of generating income for local people whose support is crucial to the long-term sustainable management of the area.