Happy 20th Anniversary Coastal Zone!!
The Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute is celebrating its twentieth anniversary of promoting the sustainable use and management of Belize’s coastal zone. To mark the occasion, the organization has partnered with OCEANA Belize and the World Wildlife Fund and has released a commemorative phone case. Chief Executive Officer Chantalle Samuels says the transition from a previous plastic cover to the protective wooden case provides a sustainable option. She begins by outlining the scope of the Coastal Zone’s mandate.
Chantalle Samuels
Chantalle Samuels, Chief Executive Officer, CZMAI
“On April 16th, 1998, the Coastal Zone Management Act was enacted by the Government of Belize thereby bringing it into force. The act is the enabling legislation for the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute. It provides for the improvement of Coastal Zone Management in Belize through the establishment of a Coastal Zone Management Authority and a Coastal Zone Management Institute, the establishment of a board of directors to provide oversight for the affairs of the authority, the preparation of a Coastal Zone Management Plan and the establishment of mechanisms to improve the monitoring of the various activities that occur within the coastal zone and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. So the passage of the Coastal Zone Management Act essentially established the institutional arrangements for coastal zone management in Belize and the required legislative framework for CZMAI’s mandate of promoting the sustainable development of coastal areas through policy development through the coordination of existing legislation and policies affecting coastal resources, research and monitoring, capacity building and increased public participation in management activities for Belize’s coastal resources. Our partners are very diverse, they are from a diverse spread and they include members of the government, we engage them through a technical advisory committee, as well as members from the non-governmental community, the business sector, the private sector and civil society. At today’s launch, you have heard that we have been collaborating with two such N.G.O.s: Oceana Belize and World Wildlife Fund and our specific collaboration for today is with reference to a launch of a sustainable option for phone cases.”
