Today, the National Biodiversity Office, under the Ministry of Sustainable Development, launched its very first National Biodiversity Dialogue. The theme? “Biodiversity Beyond Boundaries: Connecting Ecosystems and Empowering Communities through National Collaboration.” It’s more than just a mouthful, it’s a mission. This event brings together key players from across the country to strengthen partnerships, protect our ecosystems, and ensure that Belize’s protected areas are managed effectively and sustainably. News Five’s Britney Gordon was there and brings us the story.
There are no borders when it comes to nature. Across Belize, hundreds of ecosystems are linked, not just by plants and animals, but by the people working hard to protect them. These natural networks provide vital resources, and it’s the efforts of conservationists that help keep them thriving. Today marked the kickoff of Belize’s first-ever National Biodiversity Forum, a space where those on the frontlines of conservation came together to share ideas, tackle challenges, and align their goals. Saul Cruz, Director of the National Biodiversity Office, explained why this kind of collaboration is more important now than ever.
Saul Cruz, Director, National Biodiversity Office
“Really what the National Biodiversity Office is looking forward to is just having an open dialogue where we share a lot of what we’ve been doing in terms of our national policies, structures, and governance. But really also to provide a space for our unsung heroes to also provide some updates and some information in terms of what they’re doing. Some of the challenges. Some of the achievements and some of the opportunities for collaboration and partnership really the theme is just built around that. How do we strengthen partnership? How do we strengthen collaboration from government to our NGOs and to our protected area managers and even amongst government entities? And so it’s really focused around strengthening partnership, strengthening collaboration. And one way that we see that coming is through just information sharing, showing everybody what is it that we’re doing and what our plans are for the next coming years.”
The two-day forum drew participants from the north to the south of Belize. Valdemar Andrade, Executive Director of the Turneffe Atoll Sustainable Association (TASA) explains that his participation is a testament to TASA’s dedication to protecting Marine spaces, and the industries that depend on them.
Valdemar Andrade, Executive Director, TASA
“The marine environment itself contributes millions of billions of dollars in terms of the Belize economy. In 2024, the tourism industry alone was one point two-four billion. And so all of that is based on the biodiversity, right? That’s based on diving, snorkeling, fly fishing, those industries that contribute to the economy and that employ lesions. I think it was almost about twenty-five thousand people that were employed through the tourism industry. There are another three thousand fishers that are employed through the fishing industry and there are also about fifteen thousand families in northern communities southern communities, and across this country that depend on fishing, for example.”
Saul Cruz
“This is the very first event the National Biodiversity Office has been created in 2020. And from since then we’ve not been able to have. This sort of a national dialogue. And so it’s very critical at this point in time. It’s very important in terms of ensuring that we have a very strong communication and collaboration process with all our partners.”
“In our role, we are the co-manager of the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve. And so we basically are ensuring that we run the day-to-day management of the reserve, ensuring that whether you are a fishing stakeholder or a tourism stakeholder, or the general public, engaging with the reserve, that you comply with the rules and regulation and ensure that you’re not taking more than you should. You’re taking it within the rules. For example lobster season just opened. We have to ensure that everybody has their licenses for their boats, as a fisher. The same thing for tour guides, tour operators. We check with them to be able to ensure that they have their licenses and ensure that they’re doing proper things and not again jeopardizing the very biodiversity that they depend on for their livelihoods.”
Saul Cruz
“And so it’s understanding that biodiversity spans beyond our protected areas. And so it includes community, it includes people, and so understanding that interaction of people, our communities with our biodiversity and our protected areas is very essential to being successful in managing our protected areas.”
The national biodiversity office is charting the way forward in the way stakeholders design conservative strategies to ensure that the biodiversity is managed and remains in a healthy state. Britney Gordon for News Five.