By Breaking Belize News Staff: Belize’s logging sector is facing increasing pressure following the implementation of a five-year moratorium on the issuance of Short-Term Forest Licences and Petty Permits for harvesting trees on national lands, a policy introduced by the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Solid Waste Management.
The measure, which took effect on December 1, 2025, was designed to curb deforestation and address concerns over declining forest stocks. Under the policy, applications for harvesting on leased lands are also subject to stricter review, as government seeks to strengthen conservation and long-term forest protection.
However, as the first year of the moratorium unfolds, lumber yards, builders, cabinet makers, and contractors across the country are reporting significant challenges in sourcing hardwood.
Limited permit access has left only a small number of lumber yards able to obtain logs directly, while many others are forced to rely on resale markets, tightening profit margins and reducing supply availability.
Minister of Sustainable Development Orlando Habet defended the policy, saying industry stakeholders had been given prior notice of the gradual reduction in logging concessions. He stated, “We recognize the concern of the logging industry, but if we take it from this standpoint, that way back in 2021 we had informed the people who do the logging that we would be cutting down on a yearly basis ten to fifteen percent of those yearly logging concessions, and so by now, five years later, they should have been prepared.”
Habet also encouraged businesses to engage with licensed operators and private land permit holders as an alternative source of timber.
The post Lumber yards and cabinet shops at risk of closure as hardwood shortage deepens under Logging Moratorium appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff: Belize’s logging sector is facing increasing pressure following the implementation of a five-year moratorium on the issuance of Short-Term Forest Licences and Petty Permits for harvesting trees on national lands, a policy introduced by the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Solid Waste Management. The measure, which took effect
The post Lumber yards and cabinet shops at risk of closure as hardwood shortage deepens under Logging Moratorium appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
