Greatest Threat to Belize’s Blue Economy: Sargassum!

Sargassum keeps coming, and so does the bill. Belize spends millions of dollars each year cleaning the seaweed off its beaches, but officials say removal alone is not a long-term solution. Now the government is looking at a broader response that would also turn sargassum into an economic opportunity. We asked CEO Wade, what that strategy looks like.

 

Beverly Wade, CEO, Blue Economy and Marine Conservation

“Ah, sargassum, One thing I must say though is that the government is getting closer to have more meaningful and structured interventions for sargassum. We’ve have, we now have on board the, the multilateral development banks that have been, that are important development partners with Belize to help us now have not only a re- a reactionary approach to it, which is to invest and see how much of it can be collected, but to look more at putting in a structured approach that deals with the the scale scalable solution for collection, disposal, and transformation. So looking at it as a potential resource that we can now look at transforming and having some return on investment. The government has not ignored sargassum. We have been investing in equipment for the collection of sargassum, but what it shows is that we will never have enough monies to invest in the collection of sargassum if we don’t look at it from a holistic standpoint. And so that is the approach that we’re now looking at, and to see how we could now look at the opportunity for the creation of a circular economy around sargassum. And so that is the only way it can be sustained. We’re not alone in this struggle. A lot of countries are grappling with it. Some have decided to leave it the way it is. We cannot do that. “

 

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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