Today's press encounter with Beverly Wade allowed us to ask about her appointment to the post of Director of the Blue Bond and Project Finance for Permanence Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister.
This new unit was approved by the Cabinet back in late January of this year. The Government says that this unit will be charged with ensuring that the Government of Belize meets all commitments outlined in the Blue Loan Agreement and Conservation Funding Agreement.
We asked Wade to discuss this new role:
Beverly Wade - Director, Blue Bonds & Project Finance for Permanence Unit
"The Blue Bonds and Project Finance for Permanence Unit, one of its main goals is to deliver on our conservation obligations that are associated with the Blue Bond Loan Agreement. So, a big part of our mandate is to coordinate the delivery of those targets. It is a very important role because those targets are integral to a lot of things that we're already doing. And what the Blue Bond has done is to facilitate delivery on them, not only as a part of a loan agreement obligation, but in terms of a national development, and a national policy direction that we have already set. So, for instance, a lot of the conservation targets that are in the Blue Loan are directly linked to initiatives and programs that are already in the trenches with the Ministry of the Blue Economy, and with other institutions. I am very happy to say that the Government of Belize is on track with the delivery of its targets. And as a matter of fact, the first 2 targets which are supposed to be delivered after the 6-month anniversary of the signing of the agreement will be delivered on time by the end of this month. So..."
Daniel Ortiz
"What are those targets, if you could tell us, ma'am?"
Beverly Wade
"They're 2 really. One of them was for the expansion of some of our no-take zones in the marine environment, and the other one was for us to designate the remain national lands that are in the world heritage site as mangrove reserves. These 2 things were commitments that the Government of Belize made from as far back as 2019. So, what the Blue Bond has been able to do is to bring focused attention, and also to bring resources to see them through, also because they very much align with some of our commitments that we've made in terms of our climate ambitions, and also in terms of our approach to the management and conservation of our marine resources."
The unit is responsible for documenting and maintaining work plans; ensuring project teams have sufficient human resources to achieve government's commitments; and coordinating with external partners to ensure full implementation of said work plans.
