PACT and GETCH to invest to strengthen resources in protected areas

A partnership between the Protected Areas Conservative Trust and the Getch Foundation is seeking to invest nine hundred and five thousand dollars in improving the resilience of Belize’s coastal and marine resources to the negative impact of climate change. The initiative will focus on four protected areas including the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, specifically Abalone Caye where a base which houses rangers and TIDE workers is located. Monies will be used to conduct erosion studies of Abalone Caye to determine the underlying factors affecting the severity and rate of erosion on site. The reserve is managed by TIDE and Executive Director Celia Mahung spoke briefly about the importance of the Caye to their work and what is currently being done to address the erosion.

Celia Mahung, Executive Director, TIDE

Celia Mahung

“Coastguards are stationed to do surveillance and patrols of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. This station is almost in the middle of the marine reserve so it is located in a very strategic area to ensure that we can perform our enforcement duties. We are replanting using a method where you have the tubes and you plant the mangroves in the tubes to protect them from the storm.”

A News Five team was on site today and we’ll have more on this partnership in Wednesday’s newscast.