Belize Turns a Childhood Game ‘Chalupa’ into a Climate Tool

What do you get when you mix a beloved Belizean pastime with climate action? A digital chalupa game that’s now carrying the message of conservation into classrooms and communities across the country. That’s how the Climate Adaptation and Protected Areas (CAPA) Initiative chose to close out three years of work, by looking to the future. At the University of Belize, partners closed the initiative with an interactive tool that makes climate resilience, conservation, and inclusion easy fun to learn. Behind the game is real impact. Over three years, CAPA worked with communities across Belize’s protected areas, helping people adapt to climate change while bringing more voices into the conversation.The results are tangible: support for women-led fisheries and seaweed farms, forest restoration, regenerative agriculture, and new climate- and gender-focused management plans. It also helped shape a national push for more inclusive conservation. Openness drove the work, giving women, youth, and marginalized groups a real say in decisions. Now, the digital chalupa game takes that message further, turning complex issues into something interactive and accessible for students at home and abroad. It’s a bridge to the next generation, and a creative way to connect culture with climate action. CAPA may be over, but its impact isn’t, living on in stronger communities, healthier ecosystems, and a simple game with a powerful message.