Art Becomes a Call to Protect Placencia Lagoon

The Placencia Lagoon has long supported families, fishermen, and communities along its shores. Now, the people who depend on it are using art to send a clear message: protect it. In Independence Village this week, residents unveiled a community mural inspired by their own stories and experiences with the lagoon. The event launched a wider public awareness campaign focused on building support for conservation. News Five’s Britney Gordon was there.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

“On the shores of southern Belize, nature remains a lifeline to the community. From fishermen who rely on marine life to feed their families to local businesses sustained on tourism, protecting the environment is crucial to their survival. But with illegal fishing practices, unsustainable development activities, and climate change all threatening their way of life, Belizeans have had to double their efforts to sustain the environment that they rely on. That is why today Belizeans are picking up a paintbrush and putting their message on display that conservation begins with you.”

 

 Abigail Parham Garbutt, Marine Conservation Officer, World Wildlife Fund

“The initiative today is the launch of our Placencia Lagoon communications campaign. And so the first thing here is for us to establish some murals in our communities that are bordering the Placencia Lagoon. So, we’re starting with Independence, but we’re also going to be doing this in Placencia and Stann Creek as well to capture, in a mural, the history of how people use the Placencia Lagoon and the present day. And so it’s capturing people’s memories and livelihoods surrounding the Placencia Lagoon and the importance to them.”

 

The Reef Guard Project: Sustaining Life and Livelihoods initiative focuses on improving the management of four marine protected areas, including South Water Caye Marine Reserve, Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve, Laughing Bird Caye National Park, and Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve. From Dangriga to Independence, the World Wildlife Fund is looking to bring communities together around one goal: protecting the Placencia Lagoon without leaving behind the people who depend on it. Community liaison, Diego Lozano says community involvement is key to conservation.

 

Diego Lozano, Community Liaison, Independence Village

“We have a lot of people still depend on this lagoon for several things. You know, we have the tour guides use this lagoon to earn a little money. We have the grass root fishermen who use this lagoon to take something home to maintain their family, and we also use the lagoon for recreational purpose. So, that’s one of the reason we need to protect this lagoon. But at the same time, we need to do this respectably in a way where, it strikes a balance.”

 

Senior Project Manager at the Southern Environmental Association (SEA) Calvin Gonzales explains that Belize’s marine protected areas depend largely on stronger enforcement and scientific monitoring.

 

 

Calvin Gonzales, Senior Project Manager, Southern Environmental Association

“Mainly we have the unsustainable fishing by illegal fishers, either local or international. We have what everyone else is battling, climate change, the bleaching of the coral reefs, harvesting undersized or out-of-season product, by fishers.”

 

The mural was painted by over twenty community members, including children and conservationists. Artist, Anton Leslie, who oversaw the painting, tells us about the design.

 

Anton Leslie, Artist

“It depicts the mangrove habitat and the area of the Placencia Lagoon, and independence with Hokie Pokie in the water taxi and the manatees and the childhood with the child who climb in the mangroves and all that stuff. It kind of covers a lot of what goes on here in the mangrove habitat and in this area.”

 

The mural, inspired by residents, is just a part of the larger goal to inspire community-led conservation in Belize. Britney Gordon for News Five.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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