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Conservation groups opposing a Canadian-backed hydro scheme in a Belize rainforest are challenging the government’s environmental clearance for the project as illegal.

A Belizean alliance of conservation groups are urging the Belize Minister of Natural Resources, the Environment and Industry, John Briceno, to reject last month’s decision by a government committee to approve the Chalillo dam’s environmental impact assessment (EIA).

The alliance, known as BACONGO, says the committee’s rushed approval of the EIA violates Belize’s environmental review procedures, and that the EIA – prepared by Canadian engineering consultants, AMEC, with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency – fails to meet Belizean standards.

"The EIA contains major errors and omissions, and, therefore, does not provide a legal basis for permitting construction of the dam," says Jamillah Vasquez, Executive Director of BACONGO, one of two non-government organizations appointed to the committee.

The committee’s vote to approve the EIA was taken without the required public hearings and before committee members had time to review hundreds of pages of technical documentation, notes Ms. Vasquez. The committee also failed to record dozens of submissions from independent experts, archeologists, and concerned groups, including the Belize Ecotourism Association.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Probe International and other environmental groups are pressuring the federal government to take responsibility for the EIA fiasco.

"Rather than upholding the highest environmental standards, the Canadian International Development Agency has sponsored a sloppy and secretive environmental review process," says Gráinne Ryder, Policy Director of Probe International. "The Canadian government should apologize to the people of Belize and order AMEC to reimburse every last dime of taxpayers’ money."

Records obtained by Probe International using Canada’s Access to Information Act indicate that CIDA has agreed to pay AMEC almost $500,000 for its EIA work in Belize.

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For more information, CONTACT:
Jamillah Vasquez, Executive Director, BACONGO, Belize, Tel.(501) 233-385
Gráinne Ryder, Probe International, Toronto, Tel.(416) 964-9223 ext.228