Over the past two decades, Belize lost around 20% of its forest cover — more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres). Much of it is the result of agricultural expansion by Mennonites, the conservative Christian denomination that arrived in the country more than six decades ago.
To understand the corporate machinery that’s allowed the Mennonites to expand so quickly, often outbidding private landowners and environmental groups trying to protect the rainforest, a Mongabay investigation conducted extensive interviews and reviewed dozens of land records.
The investigation found a unique system of strategic land titling and pooled financial resources, with communities consolidating numerous properties under a single corporation or church entity.
“[Mennonite communities] pride themselves on being more autonomous,” Elma Kay, chair of the board of directors of the nonprofit Maya Forest Corridor Trust, told Mongabay during the investigation. “They’re very efficient at managing their finances, harnessing those to acquire more land as a community, as a collective.”
Many Mennonite communities live without modern technology, rejecting electricity and other conveniences. At the same time, some have adopted heavy machinery for agriculture, helping them become one of the leading national producers of crops and poultry.
In the process, they’ve consolidated hundreds of thousands of hectares of land under single corporations and church entities. Individual Mennonites and their families are issued certificates to occupy the land by community leadership, rather than a traditional title.
With the certificate, the land can be transferred within the community without being legally bought or sold, leaving development largely off the public record. The system also ensures the land remains under community control, never sold away to non-Mennonite residents.
The Spanish Lookout Community Trust Corporation Ltd., for example, controls 42,100 hectares (104,000 acres) of land. The consolidation process started in the early 2000s, records show.
In the Blue Creek community, the consolidation process is still underway, with thousands of hectares throughout the community being transferred to the Blue Creek Mennonite Church as recently as 2023.
“We’re consolidating that all into one title so that it’s less hassle keeping it up to date,” Blue Creek Mayor John Krahn told Mongabay.
Large, collective land titles allow Mennonites to expand more easily than other Belizeans, tapping communal resources without having to go through banks or other lenders, the investigation found. They can also get financing through community credit unions, such as Blue Creek Credit Union and Spanish Lookout Credit Union.
Mennonite community leaders and real estate agencies told Mongabay expansion will continue, and there are large properties they hope to purchase in the future, while adding they respect the environment.
However, conservationists said they’re concerned about how Mennonite expansion will impact Belize’s forests.
“As a conservationist, to hear more and more of these statements [about expansion], I think it becomes more alarming, and one starts to ask more questions,” WCS terrestrial conservation director Boris Arevalo told Mongabay.
Read the full investigation by Maxwell Radwin here.
Banner image: A lumberyard in Spanish Lookout. Image by Maxwell Radwin/Mongabay.
