Residents of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker say they’ve never seen anything like it, the worst sargassum invasion in living memory. And now, Belize is on the verge of declaring a national emergency. Despite nonstop efforts by locals, businesses, and government crews, the seaweed just keeps coming, tons of it, every single day. It’s not just an eyesore; it’s a serious threat to marine life and our tourism industry. We asked Prime Minister John Briceño how the government plans to respond to this growing crisis.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“Yeah, I think we pretty soon will have to declare that a national emergency to be able to move financing to help with the cleaning. It is no one’s fault. It is the more developed countries that are causing climate change. Again, as always, we end up paying that price. So we have been in formal discussions with both the area representative and the minister of blue economy and the Minister of Tourism, Anthony Mahler. Quite likely we are going to discuss that on Tuesday and see what plans we can come up to be able to help to clean the sargassum.”
