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But, not only a wetland - it was an opportunity to forge a truce between the conservationists and the community. Sahar Vasquez found out more.

Sahar Vasquez reporting
Today residents of Crooked Tree and members of the conservation community gathered in a small classroom in Crooked Tree to celebrate World Wetlands Day. Wetlands are not generally something you will fund on a tourist brochure or a bucket list, but they do hold great importance in protecting Belize from flood waters, and that was the idea behind today's ceremony.

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director Of Belize Audubon Society
"The idea is to highlight the importance of these wetlands so in the case of Crooked Tree it is not only ecologically and socioeconomically important but it also is as an important reserve in that it holds the flood waters coming down from the Chickibul. The flood waters end up here and it holds it as a sponge absorbing a lot of these flood waters. Protecting Belize City."

Promoting the importance of Crooked Trees Wetlands was not the only thing celebrated at today's ceremony.

There has long been tension between Crooked Trees residents and the Audubon Society and it escalated after the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary was burnt down in 2017.

But, from the ashes, an opportunity…according to executive director Acosta, the fire helped both parties speak openly to one another about their concerns and struggles. Because of that, today a Memorandum of Open Understanding was signed.

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director Of Belize Audubon Society
"As we all know last year things came to a head when we had the incident when the Belize Audubon Society was burnt. Granted that it was an action that was not condoned. The village was actually very upset in the process so we have had mixed emotions towards it. What that did though is it created the forum for us to move forward because there was a degree of emotions and bad blood in how we can manage and sustainably manage this resource. The memorandum of understanding is really giving some degree of owners and ownership on the village council for the management of their resources."

It is clear that our Wetlands are a precious resource, so its preservation and protection are crucial for little Belize.

Hon. Dr Omar Figueroa, Minister Of State Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, Environment, Sustainable Development, and Climate Change
"You know we have to look at Wetland preservation as a must. It plays such an important role when it comes to flood mitigation, to purifying waters that we need to really engage our focus and ensure that we protect the integrity of these systems."

Crooked Tree is home to over 36,000 acres of Wetlands.