TIDE Private Protected Lands
Currently, TIDE manages 20,488 acres of private lands, strategically located within the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor. Some of these TIDE Private Protected Lands (TPPL) were purchased as part of the ‘Debt for Nature Swap’ agreement between the governments of Belize and the USA. The ‘Debt for Nature Swap’ allowed Belize to swap certain debts they had to the USA in exchange for funding forest conservation activities in Belize. The TPPL are managed under the Tropical Forest Conservation Agreement.
The lands are part of a block of large, contiguous, moist tropical forest that links other protected areas in the Toledo District and serves as a biological corridor for important species such as jaguar (Panthera onca), white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii). TPPL have various ecosystems ranging from coastal plain broadleaf forests to riparian forests to mangrove forests.
TIDE’s goal for its Private Protected Lands is to conserve, maintain and restore tropical forest ecosystems in order to sustain human life through the provision of clean air and water and a safe haven for critical wildlife.
The TPPL are managed using a number of different methods and activities. The rangers conduct conservation education in schools and to the general public through house-to-house discussions on hunting laws and environmental benefits of conservation areas. A major role for the rangers is law enforcement, controlling illegal activities, such as poaching and logging.
To counteract deforestation, the TPPL staff and nearby communities are reforesting a riverbank corridor along the Rio Grande, enhancing habitat for species such as the critically endangered hicatee turtle (Dermatemys mawii).
Currently, TIDE is partnering with Panthera to monitor its forests with camera traps, as part of a region-wide initiative to gain an understanding of the populations of large cats in Latin America.