Twenty-Million-Dollar Lifeline for Belize’s Sargassum Crisis

Belize is preparing to borrow twenty million dollars to confront its growing sargassum problem. Prime Minister John Briceño says the World Bank will provide the financing at a low interest rate following high-level discussions in Bangkok, Thailand. The announcement brings fresh hope for coastal communities and tourism operators, but it also raises important questions about government’s strategy, how the money will be used and whether the investment will produce a sustainable solution.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño 

“The first one is the issue of sargassum, that sargassum is not only an issue for Belize but for the entire region. And as a region we have to be able to see how we can solve that. So, we had extensive discussions on that. But more personally for Belize, we have been working with the World Bank to access funding, some funding with low interest rates and long term payment plans and we are working on getting the first five million U.S. dollars and we are hoping to get an additional five million. So, we are looking at about twenty million dollars to be able to start to address seriously sargassum. As I point out to all officials, we did not create this problem. It is obvious that climate change is now having severe impacts on countries like Belize, not only with now flooding and changing weather patterns, but also sargassum.”

 

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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