B.T.I.A. members to decide whether or not to join coalition against drilling
dionne miranda
To drill or not to drill? It’s a question that is not only weighing on the minds of the public but also of the tourism industry. APAMO, OCEANA, and COLA made a presentation this morning to members of the Belize Tourism Industry Association about the effects of a spill, the legality of the contracts and the economics of the industry. After announcing their coalition, these NGO’s also made it clear they wanted the B.T.I.A. to join them, because if there is ever an oil spill, any destruction on the reef, would also mean an economic loss for businesses which rely on the country’s natural beauty to coax tourists to spend their dollars in Belize. According to Dion Chamberlain Miranda, the oil question is something that the B.T.I.A. is taking very seriously, which is why they had the consultation today.
Dionne Chamberlain Miranda, President BTIA
“We thought it was necessary to have this grouping here today because it means that we understand what the issue is and we make an educated decision as to the way forward. As president, like I mentioned to you before, I don’t have the ability to make a decision; my membership does. My six hundred plus members in the ten destinations across this country should make the decision on where this country’s future lies. But I can tell you that I want to have a future and I don’t want to have a barren reef and I don’t want to have dead fish for my future so that is where we’re looking forward to.”
Jose Sanchez
“What message are you going to take to Corozal?”
Heron Moreno, BTIA Corozal
heron moreno
“The thing is that if you look at us, we play an integral role in terms of representing quite a bit of people here at Shipstern and we sit on various alliances. One is the Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development, we also represent Organization Shipstern, which is a conservation NGO and we form a part of the B.T.I.A. and we’re the chair for the Corozal chapter of the B.T.I.A. I think this has definitely been an experience because I think it has been centralized. One of the things that I’ve been saying is that all this information in terms of the oil exploration has been a little centralized to Belize City and so it’s become for many of us that live in those kind of rural communities, it’s been a Belize City thing. This experience has allowed me to actually be able to take back this information to the communities now, to be able to take back to the northern grassroots and let them understand exactly what is going on. I think that if you look at it, this kind of, this kind of issue at hand is really going to affect a lot of people, I mean at a national level.”
Jose Sanchez
“Are you concerned?”
Heron Moreno
“I’m very concerned actually. It’s an issue that I don’t think we should take lightly. You deal with people from one aspect of life to the other and there’s no getting away from this. If you look at the information that was shared today, it’s a little worrying you know.”
charles leslie jr.
Charles Leslie Junior, Chairman, Placencia Village
“It is pretty obvious that the cons outweigh the pros of oil exploration in Belize.”
Jose Sanchez
“You come from Placencia, that’s a place—one of the hubs of tourism. What is the message that you are going to take back?”
Charles Leslie Jr.
“Well, I will take back the facts and I think I reiterate the sentiments of Placencia Village people and they definitely are not with oil exploration. We’re already having major problems with the fishing industry in that area and I think the potential risk of this is just too significant. I personally believe it’s an inevitable fact that we will have disaster on our hand if this goes through. We don’t have the manpower, as Mrs. Matura Shepherd indicated and the legislation just does not exist to deal with this right now.”
Jose Sanchez
“The shortsightedness of politicians will tell you that the other party did it; both political parties did it. it seems from the opinion of the membership present today, more than likely they will say this whole offshore drilling, the cons outweigh the pros. Is that the message then that would come—how could B.T.I.A. sustain that?”
Dionne Chamberlain Miranda
“It’s gonna be a difficult one, but like I mentioned before, it doesn’t take an army to win the battle, it just means the strategy has to be there, we have to ensure that we target and we get the key players on hold. But it is a Belizean issue with Belizean people and so the education is key. And thank you for being here as a part of the media because I’m hoping that you all will help to spread the message; get the information out. We want people to make educated decisions based on fact, not upon emotion. We have to have solutions. At the end of the day the country is in dire straits financially and economically because of the recession and we need to come up with solutions that are going to work for the country. And so we need to get this out there and it’s going to be a hard fight but that’s what advocacy is about.”
The B.T.I.A. president said that after today’s meeting, the representatives from the different chapters are expected to consult with their memberships very quickly. By June eight, Ocean Day, B.T.I.A. will announce if it will join the coalition against offshore drilling.
