$24 Million U.S in G.C.F. Funds to Belize

We also asked Dr. Martinez about the country’s access to green climate funding through the Green Climate Fund. The fund was established in 2010 within the frame work of the United Nations Frame Work Convention on Climate Change. It assists developing countries like Belize in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. Coastal communities across the country are not foreign to the effects of climate change, many battling those effects for decades.  Dr. Martinez says, while substantial sums have been awarded to Belize through the fund, there are opportunities for greater access.

Dr. Osmond Martinez

Dr. Osmond Martinez, C.E.O., Ministry of Economic Development

“In total we have been able to access around twenty four million dollars from the Green Climate Funds and these are grant monies. None reimbursable free money for Belize. There are eight million U.S. that were allocated to the Resilient Rural Belize, a very interesting program that started back in 2018 and we just started with implementation. In the past that program was only using money for salaries furniture’s and vehicles. Then we have the Water NAP which is almost a million dollars and is being implemented by five C’s. We are also working with the accreditation which is being paid by G.C.F., accreditation of D.F.C., S.I.F., and the Ministry of Economic Development. That by itself gives another one million U.S. dollars. There is another project, an experiment happening up in the North with eh wild cane to see how we can turn that into energy. So there are several projects under the Green Climate Fund but we are still not happy with the total among we have accessed from G.C.F. We believe that there is a lot more we should be able to access. But, Belize has also failed in putting proposals forward. Hence the reason on the third of January 2022 the Ministry of Economic Development created the climate finance unit.”