Was Machel Montano’s Real Mission in Belize the Concert?

While many Belizeans enjoyed Machel Montano’s concert on the night of September 20 leading into Independence Day, there was another mission the soca legend was after during his visit in Belize. 

Montano signed a Memorandum of Understanding backing the global Save Soil Movement, and joining Prime Minister John Briceño for a symbolic tree planting in Orange Walk. 

“52% of soils have been degraded by slashing and burning and of course leaving the soil exposed to heat which kills the biodiversity in the soil,” Montano said during the 10-minute livestreamed signing ceremony. 

Briceño said it is Montano’s reach with young audiences that makes the partnership valuable. He called it “quite admirable” that the soca star uses his music and platform to carry the initiative across the region.

Montano has built that reach through his collaboration with Sadhguru’s Conscious Planet initiative to bring Caribbean leaders on board with the movement and featured on the “Save Soil Riddim” project with the track “Touch the Ground.” 

The artist uses music as an entry point into a conversation about soil health that young people might otherwise scroll past. “We want to encourage everybody to put life back into the soils so we can have nutritious food coming out of it, help farmers with their livelihood, avoid flooding by having rich soil that absorbs the water, help with the climate change situation, and most importantly encourage planting trees,” Montano added. 

The visit aligned with Briceño’s own Greening Belize Initiative, which is targeting one million trees by 2030. “We’re pushing to plant 1 million trees,” Briceño said. “We would be doing all across the country, and not only in the forest, but in backyards, parks, and all over.”