Martinez says there will also be funds available for coastal communities like Monkey River that are suffering excessive erosion. He explained it:
Osmond Martinez, CEO, Ministry of Economic Development
"Actually, Monkey River, as we all know, it was a village in the past. I now when you look at what happened to Monkey River, actually, we have our first...Belize can easily declare that we have our first climate change refugees."
"It's something that we haven't talked about, and we need to talk more about it. And at the same time, to look at opportunities on how to mitigate the issues that Monkey River has. Monkey River will be the beneficiary. It will be one of the main beneficiaries from the four to five million US dollars that will be implemented. But also, there will be a replanting of mangroves from the northern part of Belize, all the way to the southern part of Belize."
"The replanting will impact the coastline of Belize, and our hope is that it will help to really to mitigate the issues that we have with erosion in the coastal areas."
