There's a house meeting on Friday is highly anticipated because government will introduce legislation for the moratorium on offshore oil exploration in Belize's waters. The bill may even get bi-partisan support.
Oceana and concerned Belizeans have been waiting for this since it was announced in the last house meeting back in September. This morning we spoke to the Vice President of Oceana Janelle Chanona who reiterated why the moratorium is important for Belize.
Sahar Vasquez, reporter
"The moratorium is coming up on Friday. How are you feeling going into this big event?"
Janelle Chanona, OCEANA
"You're absolutely right this is history in the making. This would be huge not only for Belize but in terms of communicating to the world some of the information you have just heard presented."
"Our Belizean Barrier Reef in just three services is contributing something like a billion dollars conservatively to our local economy so this would be a huge step in recognizing that fact."
"Anybody that saw and continue to see the tragic imagery coming out of Trinidad you make that immediate connection that this is the reality of living and trying to fish and trying to use marine assets where this activity is taking place."
"We are very sorry to use Trinidad as a reference point but in a way the Trinidadian experience allows us to go into future decisions eyes wide open."
"As I said it is really that our continued vigilance and our collective leadership on this will really dictate the quality of the future that all of us want to enjoy as Belizeans."
When passed, the moratorium will legislate the indefinite prohibition of offshore drilling in Belizean waters.
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