Preserving the Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site

Tom Greenwood

Greenwood’s primary concern also centers around the preservation of Belize’s barrier reef as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tom Greenwood, Executive, FECTAB

“The main concern is the lack of an overall cruise port strategy for Belize.  The fact that there are half-truths and other environmental concerns within the scope of this entire presentation this evening at six should send alarm bells to all citizens throughout this entire nation.  We have a world heritage site in what is the largest barrier reef system in the Western Hemisphere, the second largest barrier reef on the planet after that in Australia.  We became known in tourism around the early fifties especially for our barrier reef.  That’s where it all began.  I remember as a boy going through St. John’s College in the late fifties, early sixties, how fishermen began to be positively affected by turning more and more to the sea and fishing for just fish, not lobster yet.  Lobster came later on.  It has exploded to the level of fishing cooperatives, two main ones particularly, but then we remember one in Placencia and two in Belize City particularly, have exported marine products at a level that has kept thousands, thousands of Belizean families living happily, making life happily.  We cannot afford to lose our status as a world heritage site.”