We are monitoring whether wildlife are present in Belize’s first agroforestry concession, which is part of our long-term biodiversity monitoring. Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve is one of Belize’s Key Biodiversity Areas situated between Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and Bladen Nature Reserve creating a corridor of high diversity. Its diversity richness and proximity to forest dependent communities has subjected it […]

Ya’axché works with livestock farmers to implement unique mitigation measures that help protect jaguars and keep cows. As night approaches, Agnis Ujan nervously watches the spectacular sunset over the Maya Mountains west of Big Falls village, southern Belize. Fireflies soon fill the starless night. A chill wind blows from the Caribbean Sea in the east, […]

Team EcoTourism Belize joins the global birding movement. EcoTourism Belize recorded 94 bird species in a one-day birding event event! Belize is a birding paradise – having over 500 bird species. The small Caribbean country attracts thousands of birders – people who love watching birds. More than half of these birds are found in the […]

Livestock farmers, who are engaged in a jaguar mitigation project with Ya’axché, are realizing that humans and jaguars can coexist. Below the foothills of Aguacate village in Toledo, southern Belize, nestles a cattle ranch owned by small scale farmer Abraham Kan. Before sunrise, Kan along with his two dogs sets out on a routine mission […]

12 community members from southern Belize visited the Uaxactún concession in Guatemala where forest management has seen success with local community participation. Ya’axché is implementing a 4 year project, funded by the European Union, with 7 partner organizations from Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The project aims to increase the capacity of participating organizations and indigenous communities […]

Welcome to Ya’axché Institute for Conservation Education, the business arm of Ya’axché Conservation Trust. Ya’axché Institute for Conservation Education is the business initiative under Ya’axché Conservation Trust with a mission to balance nature and human development for the benefit of both. Both EcoTourism Belize and the Nursery fall under Ya’axché Institute for Conservation Education’s (YICE) purview. EcoTourism […]

Our team spotted a Harpy Eagle inside a protected area that was recently added to our management. Ya’axché recently became a co-manager of the Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve and, in 2014, made an agreement with the Forest Department to establish a 15-year agroforestry concession of 936 acres within the reserve. The Community Outreach and Livelihoods team at Ya’axché […]

One of the founders of Ya’axché’s retires after 18 years Community Liaison Officer Bartolo Teul retired from Ya’axché Conservation Trust on Friday, August 26th after 18 years of pioneering community development work in southern Belize. Mr. Barts’s vision of including communities in the protection of forests and natural resources has been realized through the internationally-recognized […]

Capacity building and assistance contribute to increased knowledge of fire control Numerous farmers in the Maya Golden Landscape have adopted the sustainable agricultural practices promoted by Ya’axché. There are still many, however, who are still using the slash-and-burn method, which can often result in escaped wildfires. These fires threaten forests the homes of wildlife, the […]

Looking at animals found in cacao farms Are the sustainable agricultural methods that we promote also providing more habitat for biodiversity than the slash-and-burn practice? This is the question that we have recently begun the quest to answer through biodiversity monitoring on cacao-based agroforestry farms. Ya’axché has been promoting sustainable agricultural practices such as cacao-based agroforestry since 2005, and […]