Belmopan to host Regional Climate Centre

The conventional local wisdom on CARICOM is that Belize gives much and receives little. That may or may not have been true in the past, but an announcement today should go a long way toward changing that impression in the future. The news, brought home from Barbados by the Prime Minister, is that CARICOM’s Regional Climate Change Centre will be located in Belize. The Centre, which will be hosted by U.B.’s Belmopan campus, may not seem like a big deal, but the subject of climate change and the resulting possibilities of sea level rise are hot international topics with vast global implications. This means that ample resources should flow and top level scientific minds from around the globe will spend quality time in Belmopan and other parts of the nation. Belize already boasts some of the region’s top talent in the fields of meteorology and marine science, and the presence of the centre here not only acknowledges their efforts, but will help ensure a steady stream of local talent in this most important field of research.