7 countries attend Mesoamerican conservation congress
The official opening ceremonies for the thirteenth annual Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation Congress took place today at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel. Delegations from the seven member countries convened in the River Hall room of the hotel to celebrate the start of what will create a network between the countries to strengthen conservation and preservation of natural resources. Duane Moody was at the opening and has this report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
For the first time in thirteen years, the congress is being held in Belize. Students, professors and scientists from across the region gathered for a full week of activities in conservation and development of natural resources.
Dr. Elma Kay, President, MSBC Belize Chapter
“We have professionals—scientists and researchers—who are working in biodiversity, conservations, protected areas management, climate change. Right now, Dr. Jaime Awe is giving a presentation on his work linking archaeology to climate change issues. We also have a big student contingent. This is one of the few regional congresses that actually facilitate student participation and so some of the students in the different universities in the region, including the University of Belize, are able to present the work that they have been doing in any area related to biology and conservation. We really wanna highlight climate change issues and how those impact people environment, biodiversity. As we experience impacts of climate change, for example different biological species or different animals and plants may experience changes and it has implications as to what we may still have or may not have. Of course the reef is a very important issue when it comes to climate change. We can have several impacts on the reef. We can have coral bleaching, and to people increased intensity and frequency of storms. So climate change is a cross cutting issue that we wanna highlight.”
The University of Belize offers theoretical lessons in environmental biology and conservation and will now move towards a more practical approach to the science.
Dr. Elma Kay
“The university wants to embark on research that helps decision makers to provide information for them so that we can actually say we are managing protected areas, we are conserving these areas and we can track our progress and see if we are doing what is the best for conserving those natural resources.”
Dr. Santos Mahung, President, University of Belize
“You, the participants of this congress, who work in science, focus your efforts to not only obtain answers, but offer potential solutions or mitigation measures to these threats.”
To welcome them warmly to Belize, presentations were provided by Tanya Carter and Madeleine Guerra performed a dancing monologue entitled “Three Hundred and Fifty Steps to Reduce Climate Change”. Duane Moody, reporting for News Five.
The members of the Mesoamerican society for biology and conservation are from Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala.
