Programs & Current Projects

This year SATIIM responded to a major challenge - proposed oil exploration and development in the Sarstoon Temash National Park and surrounding communities. US Capital Energy (USCE), an American oil company, was given permission by the Belizean Forest Department in April to begin seismic testing in the National Park. Permission that SATIIM’s Board and staff felt was illegal and unfair. In response, SATIIM mounted a multifaceted advocacy campaign that involved raising awareness of the oil exploration issue through public outreach and education, coalition building, legal action, policy research and analysis, mobilizing local supporters, lobbying Government ministers, generating international political, technical and financial support and preparing to monitor and mitigate activities in the STNP if oil exploration goes ahead.

The Sarstoon Temash National Park encompasses approximately fourteen miles of the coastline along the Gulf of Honduras. Due to the insistence from the community members of Barranco village, and the findings of a Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) which indicated that majority of the fish species in the river found inside the park originates from the marine ecosystem, SATIIM has come to see the close inter-relation of the STNP and the coastal zone.

The main objective of SATIIM’s Education Program is to increase environmental awareness, building knowledge and support for SATIIM’s conservation strategies. The target population includes primary school students, community members and village leaders primarily of the five buffer communities as well as other communities. Strategies employed for the education program includes field trips, classroom presentation, educational exchanges, production of educational materials (maps, lesson plans, brochures, and newsletters) and training workshops. Some of the environmental issues addressed includes: biodiversity monitoring, land and watershed management, sustainable fishing, sustainable extraction of resources, rules and regulations of the park.

SATIIM’s work since 2001 has focused on biodiversity conservation and management of the Sarstoon Temash National Park through the Community Managed Sarstoon Temash Conservation (COMSTEC) project funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through the World Bank. Important achievements in park management include:

In recognition of the close ties between poverty and environmental degradation, SATIIM has tried, since its inception, to incorporate economic development alternatives for the buffer zone communities in its work for park protection. SATIIM and international partners have helped residents to plant organic cacao in the buffer zone communities. Some 110 acres have been planted and about sixty village farmers in conjunction with the Toledo Cacao Growers Association, who has provided extension services and agreed to buy the harvests for export. Other alternative livelihood initiatives included gardening projects and Chicken rearing projects in the buffer schools of the STNP and agroforestry in the buffer communities. We are currently constructing facilities and organizing tour guide training for community members for ecotourism related activities such as guided tours by community members to the national park.