Plans presented for managing coastal zone
The Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute may be a mouthful of words to pronounce, but its mission is pretty straightforward: preserve and sustainably develop a vital part of Belize’s territory. Jose Sanchez was in Belmopan this morning when the Zonians presented their recommendations to government.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
With the bulk of Belize’s population and much of the nation’s wealth concentrated along the Caribbean Sea and cayes, the national development of the coastal zone is of major importance.
Dan Silva, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
“The whole coast of Belize is a great resource for this country. As you know, tourism is one of our huge foreign exchange earners, also the fisheries sector is very important for us that we preserve it, and that is the purpose of this meeting here today.”
Vincent Gillett, CEO, CZMAI
“We are expected to present to the government a comprehensive Coastal Zone Management Plan which would sort of set out the details of how we think the coastal zone area should be developed, how it ought to be managed. What plans or systems can we put in place so that we can get and orderly and as we say in the technical jargon “sustainable development of the coastal zone.”
To get the development plan under way, the CZMAI has acquired the services of Dr. Malcolm Hendry. He is the Technical Director for Environment with the Halcrow Group and has been involved in issues concerning coastal zones in thirty-five countries.
Dr. Malcolm Hendry, International Consultant, CZMAI
“What we’ve done is not to reinvent a lot of very good work that has been done nationally on strategies. For example for bio diversity there is a well-developed national protected areas system and a large part of that is in the marine environment. What we’re choosing to do is to build upon that, to enhance projects and programmes that are already in place. We’ve brought some new ideas to the management process, which will advise both the conservation areas and also the development and control areas. For example we look at things like setbacks, at the mangrove regulations and at marine dredging.”
Vincent Gillett
“Any industry can have a negative impact on the coastal zone if their interventions are not properly orchestrated, and this is the whole point of producing a document such as this. We in fact look at the tourism sector, we acknowledge its value, and we know that it’s going to develop in certain ways. But we are suggesting that in the coastal zone, there are certain issues that one has got to be aware of so that tourism itself can improve on the benefit that already exists from the industry.”
Jose Sanchez
“And how do you see the findings that they are presenting to you? How will you use them?”
Dan Silva
“Well the findings are very important, because we need to for example ensure that we have sustainable management. As we mention, we don’t want to have all the shrimp farms in one area, because that will pressure one part of the coast. If you spread it around the country it helps to alleviate the environmental problems we have. Also, in the fisheries sector we need to ensure we have sustainable fishing, in some areas we don’t want to over fish. So the idea is to have a balance because Belizeans ultimately have to benefit from this whole process.”
Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.
