Sustainable Finance Takes Center Stage at Green & Blue Finance Forum

Belize is looking for new ways to finance development while protecting the environment and preserving Indigenous heritage. At the second Green and Blue Finance Forum in Punta Gorda, stakeholders explored how sustainable funding could strengthen communities, agriculture, small businesses and the orange economy. Belize also formalized its commitment to the 100% Alliance for Sustainable Ocean Management. News Five’s Britney Gordon has the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Belize’s greatest economic opportunities may lie in the very ecosystems and cultural traditions it has spent decades protecting. At the recent Green and Blue Finance Forum in Punta Gorda, the call for greater investment in the country’s natural capital, indigenous heritage and community-led development rang loud.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“ We spoke about rising seas, stronger storms, droughts, flooding, pollution, and the enormous cost that these challenges impose on a small country like Belize. Those realities have not gone, have not changed, but the way we think about them have changed, and I believe that change is what brings us here today. We have come to realize that our natural environment, in our unending efforts to protect and conserve it, holds much more than ecological value. It is also an asset that can generate capital, attract investment, strengthen livelihoods, and to help transform our economy.”

 

Stakeholders urged government, investors, development partners and communities to work together to turn promising ideas into viable projects with lasting economic benefits.

 

Dr. Osmond Martinez, Minister of State, Ministry of Economic Transformation

“Sometimes transformations means looking at what we already have or what we already do well and finding a better way to finance, scale, and add value to it. A farmer does not necessarily need to become something completely different. Perhaps what they need is access to finance that allow them to adopt more resilient practices, increase productivity, reach new markets, and earn more from the land they already depend on.”

 

Belize’s reefs, forests and mangroves do more than protect the environment. They also help drive the economy. Gregory Watson of the Inter-American Development Bank says protecting these natural assets is essential to economic growth, resilience and long-term prosperity. He also points to Belize as a regional leader in sustainable development.

 

Gregory Watson, Division Chief, Biodiversity & Natural Capital, IDB

“Belize  global leader, and I say this everywhere I go. When I speak at events in other parts of the world, I always say Belize is the best example I can give you because it’s demonstrating what a nature positive development model can look like. Its extraordinary natural assets are only part of the story. What distinguishes Belize is the effort to connect those natural assets to economic growth and livelihoods, which we keep talking about here and which is fundamental, and to public policy. We’re not just valuing these things for the sake of valuing them. We’re valuing them linked to national priorities that then inform decisions.”

 

By working together, Belize is showing how protecting nature can create jobs, investment and economic opportunities. 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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