Canadian Press
Toronto Star
December 3, 2003

The British Privy Council begins a hearing that will determine the future of a Canadian-backed dam in Belize, which its opponents say will damage the country’s sensitive environment and destroy Mayan archeological sites.

(Excerpt)

London: The British Privy Council begins a hearing Wednesday that will determine the future of a Canadian-backed dam in Belize, which its opponents say will damage the country’s sensitive environment and destroy Mayan archeological sites.

The Chalillo dam project on the Macal River has been the subject of a long legal battle, pitting a growing demand for electricity in Belize against the preservation of the Central American country’s fragile natural resources.
The 49-metre high dam to be built by the Belize Electric Co. Ltd. – or BECOL, a subsidiary of Newfoundland-based Fortis Inc. – would flood about 810 hectares of land in the Macal River valley, says a coalition of nine environmental groups fighting its construction. A large part of the valley consists of ancient rainforest that has been left untouched by humans since the age of the Mayas, about 500 years ago.

“This dam heralds a catastrophic dawn for one of Belize’s most precious natural  treasures,” said Ute Collier of World Wildlife Fund International, one of groups behind the Belize Association of Non Governmental Organizations, or BACONGO.