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 Marine Biology in Belize Lecture
  Marine conservation and environmental issues in Belize


Historical and geographic circumstances have kept population size low and modern development minimal in Belize.    Geography has blessed Belize with a diversity of biologically rich ecosystems.  However, because Belize is a poor country, pressure for rapid economic development is threatening these systems.


Conservation Efforts in Belize

The Government of Belize has been proactive in natural management and protection through the enactment of legislation.  A significant proportion of land is under some sort of "protection"

 

Twelve marine protected areas have been established in Belize, including the South Water Caye Marine Reserve where we will be when on Wee Wee Caye.  The area is part of  the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage Site.   Marine protected areas are managed by the Belize Fisheries Department in conjuction with advisory committees made of main stakeholder groups in order to reconcile such conflicts as fishing operations and the developing tourism industry.  Large scale commercial fishing is prohibited in the South Water Caye Marine  Protected Area, though enforcement is difficult. 


Despite good intentions and actions by the government of Belize, the financial resources of the government are severely limited. 
For example, "Since the early 1980s, local developers have tried repeatedly to establish resorts and vacation homes on Twin Cays. Several areas have been clear-cut and later abandoned. Although Belize’s regulations regarding mangrove protection should protect Twin Cays from future threats of development, attempts by the Forestry Department to enforce these regulations have been only moderately successful. Indeed, in 1995, several hectares ... site were cleared of mangroves and filled with sediment dredged from the sub-tidal area adjacent to the development site. The developer is proposing to establish a marina and resort on the site. Other threats are also increasing, particularly from the rapidly expanding tourism industry. Substantial quantities of trash have been dumped into several small bays by operators of nearby resorts and sailing yachts that use Twin Cays as an anchorage. Beginning in the late 1980s, boat traffic from tourism began to increase dramatically in the Main Channel. Wakes created from boats driven at high speed have broken mangrove roots and dislodged sessile organisms in the bostrychietum communities. Unfortunately, rapidly rising rates of inadequately managed tourism will likely exert increasing pressure on this and other mangrove communities in Belize."
(http://www.unesco.org/csi/pub/papers/koltes.htm)


Much conservation in Belize is done in partnership with NGO's including:

Threats to the environment in Belize
Threats to the environment are a result of complex interaction of economics, politics and population (see Young (2008) for a good review).

For example, shrimp farming is expanding rapidly in Belize.  Shrimp farming facilities require nearby coastal access resulting in destruction of coastal mangrove forest and saltmarshes.   Besides loss of habitat, the ability of the natural systems to retain nutrients is lost.  Laws protecting mangrove destruction are rarely enforced.  In addition, 30-60% the organic feed is not incorporated into shrimp biomass, so that the nutrients in this waste are released into the coastal system.  (also see http://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin/38/Belize.html)



What are the specific threats to the following ecosystems?
Note that even non-human impacts are of exacerbated by human influences such as in coral diseases.  In 1995, near Carrie Bow in Belize widespread coral bleaching was observed in areas where it had not been previously obsered.  Sea surface temperatures in these waters reached a 12 year high in 1995.  Temperatures decline in the next years and follow-up surveys of coral bleaching in  1996 and  1997 indicated that most of the coral had recovered.  (http://www.unesco.org/csi/pub/papers/koltes.htm)


What impacts do various cultures and sectors of Belizean society have on the environment? 
- answer this in the final synthesis of your field journals -



Young, C. 2008. Belize's Ecosystems: Threats and Challenges to Conservation in Belize. Tropical Conservation Science 1(1):18-33.