Last night we told you about UWI's poster competition that reflects the effects of Climate Change. Well, today the more formal discussions began at the UWI open campus. It's called the Belize Country Conference and the focus of this year's conference is to examine the factors that threaten the region's economic stability and the well being of its people. We spoke to two of the invited guests and they explained the dynamics of the discussion and the way forward.
Dr. Mark Bynoe, Senior Resource Economist, Climate Change Center
"The idea is to begin to sensitize and get the information more out that climate change is a real phenomenon and what are some of the things we need to be looking at, some of the actions we need to be taking so that we can build our resilience to climate change. In terms of what has actually been accomplished, we have pass the stage of just educating. Within Belize I can speak for my own organization; we have been working with government; we've been working with other organizations; we've been working with the University of Belize. So for example, we have put in place hydrometeorology stations, coral reef early warning systems. We've been doing vulnerability assessments and training. We are also working with community such as the Ya'axché NGO which is a group down in the Toledo District as well as the Flowers Bank community where we are looking at the cohune palm and how that can be used as a source as renewable energy."
Ulric Trotz, Science Advisor, CCCC
"You have one of your vital ecosystems is your coral reef and with warmer seas we are seeing bleaching and killing of reefs throughout the 
Caribbean. So that will have impact not only on the ability of your reef to provide shore line protection, but also the ability of your reefs to sustain fish life and you know how much we depend of the marine environment for nutrition. There is a health issue, there is a food security issue, there is a safety issue with the question of inundation of the coastal zone. There is a health issue because we are beginning to look at dengue and malaria and the projections are that with the changing climate, conditions will be more favorable for the carrier Aedes aegypti mosquito to breed and hence increase the incidents of dengue."
The conference concludes tomorrow. The theme of this year's conference is "Climate Change and You".
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