The Sustainable Tourism Program is an initiative being undertaken by the government, Belizean tourism stakeholders and the IDB to promoted and boost traffic to emerging tourism destinations. Areas like Corozal Bay, which have the potential to become major tourist attractions but are not yet at the level of San Pedro or Placencia, will receive special attention from stakeholders to ensure that they do not fall victim to environmental degradation. A team of experts has set out to identify at least four key areas in the Corozal Bay that could be vulnerable to erosion or natural disasters and develop them so that they are no longer a concern. We spoke to the leader of that team, Adam Hosking, for more details.
Adam Hosking - Halcrow CH2M Team Leader/IDB Consultant
"So our project links to a part of the broader tourism program STP II, which is looking at promoting tourism in a number of emerging destination in Belize to diversify the tourism economy from where it is today. One of those is Corozal Bay in the North. Our project specifically relates to developing shoreline stabilization concepts for Corozal Bay. Well that's specifically looking to identify areas where there's an erosion problem or an area where the seawall is in a poor state of repair and select location where we would improve that situation and to act as demonstration projects for how they can be improved in other locations using a more sort of natural approach rather than seeing always how we work with mangroves, beaches and natural habitats to prove that resilience over time. Taking account of climate change and the sea level rising in the future."
The fourteen month project is still in the early stages, and it is not yet clear how much work will need to be done on these vulnerable areas to ensure their longevity.
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