Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area

Native flora in the rainforest at Rio Bravo © Dan Campbell/TNC

Why the Conservancy Works Here
In 1989, the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area was in danger of being systematically cleared, threatening the existence of the reserve's tropical forest and its resident wildlife. Conservancy partner, Programme for Belize (PfB), asked The Nature Conservancy to help guard against this encroaching threat.

What the Conservancy Is Doing

• With help from the Conservancy, PfB has built two field stations with educational centers and research facilities and several ranger posts to protect the area and develop ecotourism initiatives, generating more than 40 percent of PfB's financial resources for protection of Rio Bravo. The educational centers at the La Milpa field station and Hill Bank field station host programs in natural resource management for students and other groups with an environmental interest. These facilities employ green technology through solar powered energy, rainwater collection systems and gray-water storage that recycles water for landscaping purposes.
  
  

• Mahogany seeds & seed pods © Tony Rath

  The Nature Conservancy has joined PfB in experimenting with innovative sustainable forest-management practices as part of a larger PfB program to help local residents find sustainable economic alternatives to destructive logging.
  
  
• Through the Carbon Sequestration Pilot Program, PfB, with the help of The Nature Conservancy and six U.S. and Canadian energy companies, is measuring how much carbon is absorbed and stored by the Rio Bravo tropical forests. By demonstrating how forest protection can help alleviate global warming, the participants seek to reduce approximately 2.4 million metric tons of carbon over the forty-year life of the project.