The Belize Ethnobotany Reserve Project The Central American country of Belize has a population of 200,000 and large areas of tropical rain forest. In 1988, the Belize Ethnobotany Project was established with the goals of studying, conserving, and teaching local knowledge of plant diversity and traditional medicinal uses. Among the groups organizing this project were The New York Botanical Garden Institute of Economic Botany, The Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation, the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center, and the Belize Center for Environmental Studies. This project merges the activities of traditional healers, local farmers, pharmacologists, and ethnobotanists, who study how cultures understand and use plants for both medical and other purposes. 1 of 2