For the past few years, climate change has become a hot-button subject at both the policy and people level. It's a very serious issue, especially for any investment in infrastructure, because the effects of climate change can, for example, cause a newly upgraded street or highway to break up or become inundated, forcing early obsolescence.
But, is it being taken seriously at the community level? That's exactly the target audience that the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development are hoping to reach with their latest project. It's called the Belize Marine Conservation and Climate Adaptation Project or MCCAP for short, and it has a budget of US 5.53 million dollars, which is an approved grant by the World Bank. The project seeks to strengthen the Belize Barrier Reef System's resilience to climate change by targeting conservation efforts at the Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, The Turneffe Marine Reserve, and Southwater Caye Marine Reserve.
Of course, there are communities, such as Corozal Town in the north and Placencia Village in the south, that live near these reserves, and a major part of the program is to engage and educate persons like the fishermen who operate near these protected areas, and to reduce their dependence on that type of livelihood.
The Climate Change project was unveiled today at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel, and 7News was there. Here's how the project coordinator explained its importance:
Sandra Grant, Project Coordinator - MCCAP
"The project is a community-based project and we are looking at the impact of climate change and looking at it from a development standpoint. What we want to do is to ensure that the ecosystems are sustainable, but also, that livelihoods for fisher folks, fishermen - that we can provide alternative livelihoods support for our fishermen, but also to send the word around about climate change and the impact, especially for our low laying communities. What we are trying to do, is trying to ensure that our man protected areas are sustainable, so we will put a lot of effort in strengthening our man protected areas and also to encourage alternative livelihoods and to financially support these livelihoods initially and hope that they will be sustainable over time."
Adele Catzim-Sanchez, CEO - Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development
"The Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development and the government in general, sees this particular project as being important, because it's responding to one of the biggest global issues affecting us in today's world which is climate change and we are of the perspective that climate change is not something that happens out there to other people."
Enos E. Esikuri, Representative - World Bank
"The most important message that I could present to you from the World Bank is that climate change is not an environmental issue. Climate change is a development issue. That's the way we are approaching it."
The project consists of 3 many components which will be put into place at the same time during the next 3 years. The first is the projection of Marine and Coastal Ecosystems where US 1 million dollars will be invested from the grant. The second component is the Promotion of Alternative Livelihoods Options, where US 2.45 million will be invested. This component has the biggest portion of the budget, since its focus is on the communities living near to the 3 protected areas. The last component is referred to as Raising Awareness on the Impact of Climate Change, where US 0.56 million dollars will be invested from the grant.
So, just how important is the Belize Barrier reef, apart from the environmental reasons? Well, the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development estimates that 203,000 persons living in coastal areas of the country depend on the reef for income or marine resources.
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