Email

Print

Belize's vast forests, mangrove cover and coral reefs, all rich in biodiversity, have opened doorways for carbon farming potential and natural capital projects. Much like the one currently being devised under the ministry of economic development.

Dr Osmond Martinez, CEO, Ministry of Economic Development
"We are looking at an opportunity when you look at the natural assets company or natural assets accounting which is not being captured within Belize's GDP but it is also a natural resource. In many ways we may not understand that we don't convert these things or monetize them. So for example when there is a natural disaster and say for example there are trees that have fallen because of the natural disaster we would say X amount of trees have been destroyed because of a natural disaster in reality it's how much money did the nation lost? And this is one of the aspects that it's not what's captured in Belize and along with the university of Stanford and IDB we are working very closely to see how we can set up a system that will be able to tell us exactly what is the value in money that we have within our natural resources."

With the help of Academia and other global partners, GOB is attempting to pilot a project that will utilize the country's natural assets to improve the quality of living with the help of carbon credits and blue finance.

Dr Osmond Martinez,CEO, Ministry of Economic Development
"So for example when you look at trees but trees you can build houses out of them you have to take it to the saw mill it creates jobs as well but at the same time you can create accommodations build houses with the wood or a desk or a door you know or just to beautify a place that's one example. Another example is our blue economy. When you look for example at our barrier reef it's a natural asset and therefore many tourists would come to the country to maybe just snorkel or dive so there is a value. What is the value of it? So that's just to name a few so I'll tell you a few disadvantages within our natural resources. So one of the complaints that you keep getting from our tourist not only in Belize but in the Caribbean region is that there is too much sargassum so that is an impact that we have in our natural resources and impact that was caused by climate change. So these are the advantages and disadvantages we have but at the same time how can we get to monetize now carbon credits because that's another function within our natural assets that we have in Belize. Belize is a country that is a carbon sink but how can you monetize those carbon credits?"

For the past ten years representatives from Stanford University have been trying to find ways to monetize Belize's natural assets sustainably by 2025

Mary Ruckelshaus, Natural Capital Project, Stanford
"So the natural capital project we call ourselves NAT CAP, our participation with the government of Belize in many different ministries is to co create science based solutions that show the connections between nature, your coral reefs your mangroves your sea grasses and human development goals like livelihoods and safety and food security. So we are in the middle trying to bring some extra technical capacity to the increíble capacity that is already in Belize."

"So the Belizean government has said very clearly that they want to have a prosperous blue economy and be climate resilient. So those key goals are at the interface where NAT CAP works which is between ecosystems nature, coral reefs mangroves sea grasses and human safety human development coastal resilience and good security which touches land, as well as water quality so all of these benefits from nature we can help quantify and bring them always back to people so how do the people? How's their survival, how's their food security, how's their clean water for drinking as well as livelihoods from lobster fisheries and protection from coastal storms so they don't get flooded or the beaches don't erode as heavily things like that."

More than 185 countries have invested in Natural Capital.