On July 16, 2025, the Belize Forest Department launched a new 24-hour hotline (+501-610-1524) to report environmental crimes and forest-related concerns. The initiative offers the public a direct and immediate way to report activities threatening Belize’s forest resources, including illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, and other environmental violations. Developed in collaboration with Belize Bird Rescue, the hotline aims to strengthen community involvement in forest protection and conservation efforts.
Belize’s forests provide vital benefits such as medicinal plants, food security, and economic opportunities, making their protection a national priority. The hotline is expected to empower citizens to play an active role in safeguarding natural resources by facilitating timely reporting, enabling faster investigation and enforcement by the Forest Department.
Accessible via WhatsApp, the hotline allows users to send quick and discreet messages, photos, videos, and GPS locations directly to enforcement teams. By leveraging a widely used mobile platform, the Forest Department hopes to increase public engagement, improve response times, and enhance its capacity to address environmental crimes effectively. This aligns with the department’s mission to sustainably manage and conserve Belize’s rich forest ecosystems, critical to biodiversity, climate regulation, and livelihoods.
In an exclusive interview, Deputy Chief Forest Officer John Pinelo explained how the hotline came to be and the broader responsibilities of the department. “The Forest Department is responsible for a lot of issues. We are responsible for wildlife tracking, logging issues, and mangrove issues. Many of these issues occur over the weekend as our office is only open Monday to Friday. We have received a donation from Belize Bird Rescue for a postpaid phone number with internet access. What we have done now is since it’s set up with WhatsApp as well, we have at least two or three of our officers set up to monitor the hotline so that on the weekends if people see things happening or any day, they can send us pictures, videos, and of course just as important is the actual location of where the issue is taking place.”
Pinelo also emphasized that all messages and calls will remain strictly confidential.
The launch of this service represents a significant step forward in bolstering the Forest Department’s enforcement capabilities. It complements ongoing national initiatives in sustainable forest management, wildlife protection, and restoration of degraded landscapes and vital ecosystems such as mangroves.
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