Leading the Region: Belize Turns Ocean Commitment Into Action

Belize is taking the regional lead in protecting the vast stretches of ocean beyond national borders. As the first country in the region, and only the third worldwide, to join the United Nations High Seas Treaty, Belize is now bringing its national policies in line with the landmark agreement. Today, the Ministry of the Blue Economy and UNDP officially launched the framework that will guide its implementation. We heard from Chief Executive Officer Beverly Wade and UNDP Belize Deputy Resident Representative Michael Lund.

 

Beverly Wade, CEO, Ministry of Blue Economy

“Belize was very instrumental in shaping this agreement. We were very proud to have Her Excellency Ambassador Felson co-chair one of the working groups that was shaping the text for this agreement. Belize played a very prominent role in heading the negotiations on behalf of CARICOM and AOSIS. Where we are now, we are a country that have been working very hard, and our national ocean governance framework and what we do know is that what affects the high seas affects us. What we also know is that we also have a right to access the high seas. And what we want to do through this project is to ensure we build the mechanisms to ensure we adequately access the high seas.”

 

Michael Lund, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Belize

“Belize again shows that it is punching above its weight indeed and engages internationally. This took two decades to come to fruition, and Belize was the first in the region to ratify and the third globally to ratify this agreement and it shows that it is not just countries with the largest fleet but the fastest feet.”

 

The UN Treaty addresses several priority areas, including marine genetic resources, capacity building and environmental impact assessment.

 

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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