Environment symposium attracts conservationists, developers

The Belize Biltmore Plaza was packed today as over four hundred fifty people attended the first day of the National Symposium on the State of the Environment. The two-day event includes presentations on a wide range of issues from waste management to aquaculture to population growth. Various NGOs also mounted displays on their organizations. While everyone expected the event to be well attended by environmentalists and personnel from conservation NGOs and related government departments, there was a sizeable representation from developers and members of the business community. According to Minister of Natural Resources John Briceño this is a good sign.

John Briceño, Minister of Natural Resources

“One of the first things that we did when we came into government in 1998 we felt strongly that the Department of the Environment should be a part of development. And unfortunately prior to ’98 a number of developers saw the Department of Environment as an enemy and our position has always been we need to work both with the environmentalists and the developers and I think since we’ve been having that constant dialogue with the developers and with people in the environment, I think we are starting to bring them closer together. If you noticed today we had a number of developers along with environmentalists, something that we have never seen before and we want to continue that.”

The symposium continues tomorrow with panel discussions and open forum discussions.