And while that summer camp is focussed on the local effort at conservation, the biggest news globally on that front is the removal of Belize's Barrier Reef system from the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.
The official announcement came out of a World Heritage Committee meeting in Bahrain 10 days ago. Environmentalists and the conservation community have been rejoicing in this significant step - and this country even got a major plug in the New York Times. Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment Omar Figueroa was in Bahrain and he told us how Belize was able to pull off this delisting:
Hon. Omar Figueroa, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment
"The removal of Belize Barrier reef system from the list of world heritage sites in danger, I believe is a tremendous accomplishment for the Government and the people of Belize. Back in 2015 I believe UNESCO through their world heritage center together with the Government and a group of NGO's sat down and came up with a plan that was called the Desired States of Conservation. It had certain specific goals that if we were to meet those Belize could then be removed from the list. I am proud to say that not only did we meet that list but we went well beyond the requirements of that list and it was just not about getting removed from the list but the government has set in place systems and structures for us to remain off that list for the foreseeable future."
Courtney Weatherburne
"Could you tell us what some of those requirements were?"
Hon. Omar Figueroa
"Certainly, we had what was called uncontrolled development out on the Cayes with the mangrove island and you know the mangrove islands are critically important for the environment, for conservation and so the government moved forward with delineating areas that are mangroves and we are committed to establishing protected areas with those mangroves. Of course the complete and total band on off shore oil exploration that was a critical component of this initiative so those were the two of the two things that took us over the hurdle."
