Forest Department Launches Hotline to Report Environmental Crimes

The Forest Department is stepping up its enforcement of environmental laws and regulations through the launch of a hotline where the public can report illegal activities. Through a collaboration with Belize Bird Rescue, the department now has the WhatsApp number 610-1524. John Pineo Jr., Deputy Chief Forest Officer, explained that much of the illegal activity involving natural resources occurs over the weekends when the department’s offices are closed. He says that the new hotline will allow the department to respond to incidents as they are occurring rather than waiting for the start of a new work week. 

John Pinelo Jr, Deputy Chief Forest Officer, Forest Department: “This hotline is as the flyer says, to report illegal logging, any illegal logging activities. If you hear chainsaws going off o the weekend chances are it is an illegal activity and so the hotline is there. You can Whatsapp, you don’t have to call. Or if you feel like calling you can call. If we don’t answer the call right away with Whatsapp we will see the message. It’s not like a phone number where you just see the missed call. So writing in the message will help us. If you see any fires in forest reserves, because there are lots of fires all over the place. There are wildfires in villages on the highways that the Forest Department doesn’t ordinarily respond to but if you see a fire in a forest reserve near your place then you can give us a buzz. If you see people selling parrots, selling wildlife, selling wild meat that you think is illegal then give us a call. On Friday we have two vehicles fueled up and on standby, on in San Ignacio and one in Belmopan. We have drivers in Belmopan and we have drivers in San Ignacio. If we get a report, we have a vehicle in San Ignacio or one in Belmopan to scramble and go and check the situation. We also have partners. If it’s not something that is law enforcement related, let’s say a crocodile is in somebody’s yard in Belize City we have partners we can call who will go in, assess the situation and then get back to us and say “you know what we need to deal with this right now.” Or “it is not a threat we can deal with it Monday.” But we do have partners as well as our own staff that will react on the weekends if we do get complaints so that’s not an issue. We work along with a lot of NGOs, a lot of rescue teams, a lot of wildlife NGOs along with the police. We even work along with the Transport Department. We trained the transport and the police department to identify when illegal materials such as lumber or logs are being transported and they don’t have the relevant documents. So we have a group of partners that we work with.”

Pinelo gave assurances that all information would remain confidential, as only a select few senior officers have access to the hotline.