Belize Partners With The Nature Conservancy to Protect Its Rivers

Belize’s government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Nature Conservancy aimed at strengthening how the country manages, protects, and restores its rivers and other freshwater systems.

The agreement sets up a framework for collaboration on watershed planning, monitoring, data collection, public awareness, and stakeholder engagement, all aimed at more sustainable management of Belize’s freshwater resources.

The Nature Conservancy, a global organisation with decades of experience working alongside governments and communities on freshwater management and watershed restoration, says the partnership gives Belize the chance to draw on that international expertise for its own freshwater priorities.

Hannah St Luce-Martinez, The Nature Conservancy’s Belize Country Program Director, said the partnership reflects how interconnected freshwater systems really are. “Water doesn’t recognise institutional boundaries. What happens upstream can affect communities downstream and ultimately our coastal and marine ecosystems,” she said. “Protecting freshwater requires cooperation across agencies, sectors and communities.”

The MOU comes as Belize’s rivers and watersheds face mounting pressure from flooding, drought, rising temperatures, and pollution. By pairing government leadership with The Nature Conservancy’s global conservation experience, both parties say they’re aiming for lasting, tangible impact for both nature and the people who depend on it.