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They're trying to change the conversation on climate change from being all about science to thinking more about human habitation.

These professionals want to talk about how the coastal communities of Belize can better prepare for the effects of climate change by constructing more resilient buildings and homes.

We stopped by:

Darrell Bradley - Mayor of Belize City

"It's a forum organised by the Belize Planners association, Ms. Carolyn Trench-Sandiford and the various associations regarding planners and the real topic is to discuss urban resilience to climate change. I love the opportunity here to get together, stakeholders under the hospices of the discussion of climate change because it is a very really threat to our society in terms of the minister's remarks as he said that climate change is a present and pressing risk, more especially for developing countries and especially for countries like Belize which depend on coastal community. I personally have a stake in this because I am the mayor of Belize City and Belize City is inundated by water, so it's in our interest to participate in activities and forums like this to engage with dialogue. I think it is very important that the discussion be based on research and analysis that would guide and inform policies and planning strategies."

Carolyn Trench-Sandiford - President, Belize Association of Planners

"We are coordinating this forum with the Association of Professional Architects, Association of Professional Engineers in collaboration with the Five C's. We need to change the narrative of the conversation on climate change away from the CO2 issues which are important but minimal when it comes to Belize. Belize does not emit the quantity of CO2 as the developed countries but the impact of climate change is going to be extensive in Belize because of low lying coast line because of the amount of percentage of people in our coastal areas. But not only within our coastal areas, within our floodplains as well and we felt that the key to addressing climate change issue is to get people involved. There are two key things happening at the same time, yes we have climate change where you're talking about more intense weather, more intense storms, more intense flooding and so forth. We are also having an urbanization process where people are moving into urban areas and it is not just our traditional urban areas or our 9 municipalities, it is also what we call a rise in the intermediate settlements. The villages, we have villages that their populations and now getting beyond that of towns."

Darrell Bradley - Mayor of Belize City

"We're bringing climate change to the level of community mobilization and community action so that this is not something that's textbook but it's something that we recognize as a serious threat to our national development and we need to bring our energies together."

The conference continues tomorrow.