The planning grant will serve to support preliminary stakeholder consultations necessary to create practical, effective community initiatives in the Maya Forest Corridor. Birds are important indicator species of a functioning ecosystem, hence The University of Belize Environmental Research Institute (UB ERI) plans to build community awareness and stewardship in stakeholder communities of the Maya Forest Corridor by developing capacities in avian citizen science research and monitoring in order to safeguard community lands and resources. The planning grant will serve to fund a series of stakeholder consultation meetings and workshops where community members, stakeholder organization and schools will assist in identifying areas of need for capacity building based on community demographics, and areas of focus for a citizen science programme based on community interests. These consultation meetings will also assist in creating more robust targets for reach and impact for outreach and capacity building.

This project aims to conserve this irreplaceable corridor of national and regional importance through capacity building, supporting local livelihoods and participation of communities and stakeholders in biodiversity monitoring, particularly collection of avian baseline data, and management. This will serve to inform managers of the health of corridor ecosystems and guide sustainable enterprises that can be established compatibly with corridor function in tandem with the committed investments of the Government of Belize?s Biodiversity Finance Project (BIOFIN) and Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation (LCAOF).

This project is harmonious with the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) objective of community landscape conservation with a focus on biodiversity and community-based adaptation, in a priority geographic area highlighted in the SGP strategic plan. It aligns with the achievement of this objective through capacity building for record keeping, community participation and information dissemination in communities to reduce the impact on adjacent resources and maintain globally significant biodiversity and ecosystem services. This project also aligns with the objectives of national strategies committed to biodiversity conservation and improvement of livelihoods such as the Horizon 2030 and Growth and Sustainable Development Strategy of Belize.