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	ONE FOURTH OF A CENTURY LATER On August 2007, we will be celebrating twenty five years of activities as an international consulting firm. Such events always makes one think back and draw a balance on what has really been achieved. Be this positive or negative, the inevitable conclusion is that, without really and fully realizing it, the driving force behind all of our efforts has been the accelerated course of world events at the end of the twentieth century and the even faster current of global developments of this starting twenty first century. When in August 1982 we haphazardly organized an office space in which to work on a first contracted consulting job, a 1982-1989 stage of events started to define itself. This meant seeking opportunities within a very depressed private sector, with a negative attitude towards the future. The “market”, then, was to seek consulting activities with firms in financial and technical problems, a stressful but instructive undertaking. It actually was a baptism very much in line with what Guatemala was going through in those days. A second stage, which now can be placed from 1989 to 2006, involved a sudden surge of consulting through international funding that started to pour into Guatemala, as a response to the so called democratization process. This marked the start of a sixteen-year period in which development-related projects were contracted, mostly in the land use and regional planning fields. Looking back on all this and relating it to what was happening in a global sense, three very important indicators seem to point towards what might be a yet third stage in the coming years: the quantum leap in the information technology, the environmental question and the new efforts to reduce poverty, through the Millennium Development Goals. Also, one has to relate all this with the technology that revolutionized, in a mere 25 year span, the accessibility and processing of huge amounts of information, of its immediate availability in any part of the world and the fact that it is now possible for humans to communicate, from any spot on the planet, in writing, in speech and through images. In August 1982 the state of the art was the telex, the proliferation of the fax machine and a timid start in the use of personal computers. In the decade of the 1990s, all this evolved into the miracle of the Internet. For us, this meant an access to the use of a new technology in the use of remote censors: satellite imagery of an ever higher resolution, released partially from is military use, the processing of enormous databases and its immediate transmission and conversion to digitized information. Worldwide, all of this meant a virtual shortening of distances and in less than ten years, a never before experienced globalization in the relations between nations and between activities that inevitably induced changes in the geopolitical map: the collapsing of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations, the further polarization of the eternal east-west conflicts and, in our particular case, the signing of the peace accords after a thirty year civil war. Important advances have also been achieved in the application of new technologies in the medical field, included the huge forward step that results from the mapping of the human genome. To recount what has been undertaken and done during these our 25 years can only be described as a dazzling and hallucinating experience, particularly if one compares it in time with the development of modern human achievement. Notwithstanding, not all is positive and some of the most negative situations that still persist are: the population growth rates, global warming and its effects on climatic changes, the appearance and expansion of deceases with epidemic characteristics that seem to imply a reaction of nature against human aggressive invasion and the frustrating fact that there don’t seem to be effective solutions to reduce an ever growing poverty. All of this and particularly the former, has lead to what appears to be a new movement in the political pendulum, away from globalization and in a shifting of political concepts, of neo-liberal origin on the side of the traditional powers and of neo-social characteristics in some of the developing areas. Less directly, but with growing repercussions upon our area of interest, is the looming conflict in the Middle East. We fully agree with those that are convinced that the beginning this new millennium will be seen as a watershed period in the use of natural resources and in the present life styles, as it developed in the last 50 to 100 years, and that this will involve man’s relationship to his environment. The year 2007 seems to point to the beginning of an awareness of the existence of a global warming process and of the disasters this may bring in the not too distant future. To us in APESA, all this implies new and unimaginable challenges and a consistent and daily attention to new technologies, as well as the seeking of opportunities to make the best use of them, in an ever-growing opportunity of new applications. We will be anxious to start this third and new stage in our development. Time will tell. ******************************************************************************************** The following is a sample of congratulatory emails received for our 25^th anniversary. CONGRATULATIONS APESA! Twenty-five years of dedicated service is worthy of high honors. The Government of Belize through the Ministry of National Development would like to congratulate APESA on its anniversary and its achievements over the years. The MND expresses immense satisfaction with the professionalism with which APESA executed its contractual obligations to the GOB in the preparation of the NPESAP. We also commend the high quality with which the completed studies were presented. Congratulations once again and best wishes for another 25 years of excellent service. Carlos Pol Joaquin Very nice note from Carlos. I likewise wanted to note my congratulations on your 25 years trajectory as APESA, and also express to you how well written your observations on the "development tendencies" are, both reflecting on the past, examining the present, and looking to the future. Dr. Michael Richards Internacional Consultant Reciban un cordial saludo y la más sincera felicitación por su veinticinco aniversario, para quienes hemos sido parte en algún momento de APESA, es motivo de alegría, y los motivamos a seguir adelante en los retos del nuevo milenio. Saludos Cordiales Arq. Carlos Marroquín Bendiciones y muchas felicitaciones, Atentamente, Msc. Bs. Nadia Mijangos López MARN Hi Joaquin, Many congratulations on your Silver Anniversary. It gave me great pleasure to work with you guys in Belize and I was glad you remembered me in your e-mail. Best wishes John Harrison IDB Consultant and Project Supervisor in Belize Muchas felicidades por este logro y esperemos que los años a venir traigan mas trabajo y mejores resultados. Saludos, Macarena Corlazzoli Instituto Nacional de Estadística. Dear Joaquin, Thanks for this mail and congratulations! 25 years of successful survival in this business is not bad. Erik Whist, International Consultant, Oslo, Norway ENHORABUENA!!!! CON TODO APRECIO LES DESEO LA OBTENCION DE MAS EXITOS EN ESTA CARRERA TAN DIFICIL COMO ES LA PRESTACION DE SERVICIOS PROFESIONALES, NO MUCHOS LOGRAN LLEGAR A 10 AÑOS, 25 AÑOS ES TODO UN ÉXITO!!!!! APESA TIENE PARA RATO…… CARMEN ROSA PEREZ DE SANTIZO. Coordinadora del Programa de Desarrollo Sostenible de la Reserva de la Biósfera Maya Estimado Joaquín, Felicidades por estos 25 años de actividades en APESA. Esperamos que APESA siga aportando al desarrollo de Guatemala como hasta ahora lo ha hecho. Con aprecio, Rodolfo y Loren Borstcheff Dear Joaquin, Congratulations for the 25th anniversary of APESA. I look forward fruitful cooperation with APESA. Best regards, Kim Chi Tran NIVA, Oslo, Norway Estimado Joaquín, Felicidades. Como nada - 25 años y ahí siguen. Felicitaciones de nuevo. Wieszman Pat Ministry of the Environment of Natural Resources Belmopan, Belize Estimados Señores, De parte de toda Agriconsulting me felicito con Ustedes por vuestros 25° aniversario, y os auguro que vuestras actividades sigan siendo muy provechosas en los años y en los eventos que harán nuestro mundo futuro. AGRICONSULTING S.p.A. Roma, Italia FELICITACIONES POR ESOS 25 AÑOS DE ACTIVIDADES, estoy segura que los resultados de las consultorías han sido un gran aporte para el desarrollo del país, muchas gracias por haberme dado la oportunidad de contribuir en uno de sus proyectos. Cariñosamente, Lcda. Diana Vásquez Dávila Guatemala The following have been the Consulting activities in the last twelve months and in their order of performance. 1. MAYA BIOSPHERE RESERVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM With an extension of almost 20 thousand square kilometers the biosphere is the largest natural reserve in the Caribbean Area. It is severely threatened by illegal extraction of timber and archaeological artifacts, increasing drug related activities, institutional lack of an effective legal action to counter these problems, oil exploration and extraction under little known conditions and seasonal forest fires. The financing of the Program has been through the Interamerican Development Bank and the local counterpart has been the Secretariat of Executive Coordination of the President. The study, which involved a 12 man technical team, was started at the beginning of May, 2005 and included a four week field work in the Petén. At the beginning of December, 2005, APESA delivered a draft final of a report that covered: an exhaustive analysis of past efforts in sustainable management of the area deriving to learned lessons, the establishment of a baseline data model, a land use plan and an idetification of indicative projects that might be promoted. Besides reviewing all important projects executed in the Biosphere since 1990, a geographic data base, taken from already available information, was also created. 2. POVERTY MAP DEVELOPMENT FOR BELIZE The Government of Belize, through the Ministry of National Development, the Interamerican Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank are taking measures to update and strengthen its national strategy for poverty elimination, with a target to reduce poverty by half in the year 2015. The Program includes half a dozen studies to deal with the assessment of poverty elimination measures and institutional analysis, institutional strengthening, a monitoring and evaluation system and the formulation of a national poverty mapping system. The task was undertaken by a four member team that included a GIS and a systems design specialists as well as a high level consultant in geographic application methodology and a coordinator. Activities started on the first week of May, 2005. FIeld work in Belmopan covered eight weeks and included all data gathering, based mainly on a Population and Housing Census of the year 2000. Several methodologies used in other countries were initially considered, but the final outcome was a model designed specifically for the requirements of the Government of Belize -mainly a high level of disaggregation of the data- and the available information which, at the end, resulted in eight variables measuring well being through housing conditions, resulting in a Quality of Life Index that includes income, household, infraestructure, friendly environmental practices as well as access to public services, all of which was presented in 10 maps with data at the population center level and two final maps covering levels of poverty, levels of extreme poverty and a final poverty map based on the eight Quality of Life Index variables and one income variable. All tasks were accomplished with the cooperation of the Government of Belize personnel assigned, mainly, from the Land Information Centre and the Central Statistics Office, that received hands on training and two courses, one on data processing for the mapping and another dealing with aspects of the geographic information system that was created. The final draft report and database was delivered on September, 2005. After receiving comments from the involved institutions, the final report was produced and delivered at the beginning of December, 2005. 3. THE FORMULATION OF A STATE POLICY ON THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF THE MAYA BIOSPHERE RESERVE As a result of developments in the execution of the Sustainable Development Program of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, the Secretariat of Executive Coordination of the President of Guatemala (SCEP) asked APESA to present a proposal on the formulation of a document that should define, in very explicit form, the contents of a State Policy on the management of the biosphere. The contract was awarded at the beginning of August, 2005 and a two member team was assigned to the task. A final draft report was delivered at the end of December, 2005 with an analytic part that included: the changes in biodiversity, socioeconomic analysis, the concessions policy, a sustainable development of archaeological investigation and restoration practices, sustainable tourism developmente and the buffer zone and its potential producing capability. An analysis of international and national agreements on the subject was also reviewed and a policy statement was developed and presented to the SCEP, as a conclusion to the documented information. 4. POVERTY MAP DEVELOPMENT OF BELIZE CITY As a result of the country poverty mapping, the Government of Belize realized that it was necessary to have a separate and more detailed poverty map of the urban area that comprises Belize City. This resulted in an additional contract that was awarded to APESA in February, 2006. Using the same team that had performed the country mapping, APESA finalized an delivered the Belize City study at the end of June, 2006. 5. BELIZE NATIONAL POVERTY ELIMINATION STARTEGY, TECHNICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL STUDIES** As a follow up of APESA´s performance in creating the Belize Poverty Map, at the end of 2005 the Ministry of National Development announced a tender to perform a study that would define the institutional structure to carry out the National Poverty Elimination Strategy and Action Plan 2005 - 2010 based on the requirement for properly designed linkages that articulate poverty reduction measures throughout the public sector and between governmental and non governmental organizations. Additionally, the consultancy should design a baseline for the monitoring of program implementation. In June 2006 the Government of Belize announced its decision to award the contract to APESA. Work officially started on June 2006 with a targeted finalization at the end of September, 2006.

1. MAYA BIOSPHERE RESERVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM