Under the theme: "Wanted! Seas and Oceans...Dead or alive?" World Environment Day was celebrated on Saturday June 5th.
As part of the celebration, the Department of the Environment invited representatives of various educational organizations and 7NEWS to the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye natural monuments in an effort to increase awareness of the delicate ecosystems that these two monuments represent. Never one to turn down a trip to just about anywhere, Alfonso Noble set out to the caye and found a world of wonder, wealth, and worries.
Alfonso Noble Reporting, [From Half Moon Caye]
Peaceful boobies, soaring frigates, crawling hermit crabs, basking iguanas and waves lapping up on the beach. That's just a small part of the attractions that comprise the Half Moon Caye natural monument. The atoll is the oldest protected area in Belize, established first as a crown reserve in 1928 to protect the red footed boobies that nest on the Zericote forest of the island. In 1982 that protection was expanded to include the Blue Hole Lagoon natural monument.
But the enchanting wonders of the atoll are known only by a select few Belizeans. In an effort to change this and increase overall awareness of sensitive areas such as Half Moon Caye, the Department of the Environment brought out schoolteachers and other policy makers to the island to change perceptions and increase awareness.
Icilda Humes, Department of Environment
"Less than one percent of the Belizean population has the opportunity to come out to this atoll and we wanted to provide science teachers in particular an opportunity to come out here so that they can take it back to their students in the classroom. We also invited representatives from the Ministry of Education, in particular the curriculum and exam units, because we are trying to get the whole environmental science component, especially the preservation of the marine eco-system, incorporated into school syllabus and perhaps even into the PSE."
"The activities that we have scheduled for today include several presentations from the Belize Audubon Society. One such presentation is an overview of the Half Moon Caye natural monument. Another presentation is on the environmental impasse and barriers that this atolls faces, particular the half moon caye and blue hole. Another presentation is on the mitigation measures that need to be employed to deal with the environmental impasse."
And the impacts on this fragile system of reefs and forest must be closely watched. Any change on the island could snowball into large unmanageable problems tripping a chain reaction of great impact on the system. Guarding against that is the Belize Audubon Society and it's personnel on the caye. Headed by Diane Wade-Moore. On this day they are tackling two problems: a quickly depleted fresh water source and an exploding rat population.
Diane Wade-Moore, Belize Audubon Society
"We now have rodents and rats. Part of the reason we are here today is to try and clear up the island because the rodent population is exploding and it's starting to affect the other wildlife population negatively. So we are trying as much as possible to cut down the rat population. Apart from the Zericote forest, what we have is very dense coconut palms on the island. And over the years the nuts and things have been falling off and have been building up and the decomposition has been very slow. It's providing an ideal nesting ground for these rodents. So what we are doing today and we did yesterday is we are putting in strategic fire breaks on the island and we are having controlled burns just to clear the under-rubble and try to get all the nest material off the ground. We also have a water problem here on the caye. Like most of Belize, other sandy cayes, the water lens are very shallow so we are trying a new design. We have a couple engineers in our membership and with the help of Mr. Pepe Garcia, they have designed a radiating wall for us, allowing us to minimize the impact we have with the water lens so the salt water doesn't intrude into it."
And while those are concerns that are present on the island itself, wade says that the protection of this monument extends beyond the island because of what it represents.
Diane Wade-Moore,
"It was designated primarily to protect the Zericote forest on the far end of the island because it housed one of only two colonies of red footed boobies in this hemisphere; the other being in Trinidad. And also the reef system within the waters of the monument are some of the most unique and well formed along our Belizean barrier reef."
So on this island, it's clear that while wealth is untold, so are the worries.
Less than 1% of all Belizeans have visited the 45 acres of reserved land at Half Moon Caye.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift