Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
dam controversy highlights the perpetual problem in Belize of balancing
conservation with improving infrastructure.
Today the hottest topic on the conservation agenda is opposition to the meteoric rise
in the number of
cruise ships
and their passengers to Belize's shores. The scale of
increase in these arrivals is staggering: from just a few hundred passengers per year in
the late 1990s to a peak of over 850,000 in 2004. Since then, the yearly cruise ship
passenger number has hovered at around 700,000 yearly. Although the government's
Cruise Ship Policy Document
states a recommended upper limit of eight thousand
cruise ship visitors per day, this limit is regularly exceeded. Visitor pressure at many
archeological sites and certain cayes already exceeds carrying capacity many times over,
leading to destructive trampling and environmental degradation. Other current issues
include the
de-reservation
of protected areas. In 2013, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL),
with Belize government permission, purchased Harvest Caye to build their own resort.
Though NCL has said the resort will be eco-friendly, conservationists are strongly
opposed, with great concern for the local reef and wildlife.
The government has also allowed
oil exploration
in several protected areas, such as
offshore, in the Belize Barrier Reef, and in Sarstoon-Temash National Park, which
encompasses rare and diverse ecosystems and supports indigenous Maya communities.
Numerous conservation and tourism organizations have joined forces to resist these
and other potentially damaging and unsustainable developments that may hurt Belize's
world-renowned record of sound environmental stewardship. To the great relief of
conservationists, in 2013 offshore drilling suffered a setback, when Belize's Supreme
Court declared offshore drilling contracts previously issued by the government to be
null and void. But, according to many conservationists, much stricter laws need to be
enacted to ensure a permanent end to drilling.
Further undermining its country's natural splendour, the government continues to
sell remote cayes and other lands to other foreign investors and Belizeans returning
from overseas.
Mangrove-cutting
by resort developers is technically illegal, though fines
are rarely imposed, and construction continues at an unprecedented rate all over the
country. The ongoing development of the Placencia Peninsula, including numerous
resorts and marinas, threatens the whole area's ecology.
