BNN Says Five Cruise Terminals Are Not Sustainable for Belize

The BNN is also expressing concern over the cruise ports and the concentration of facilities to be built in the Belize District. As many as five terminals would be in operation across the country if all these projects were to be green-lighted.  From an environmental perspective, Salas tells News Five that it is not sustainable.

Osmany Salas

Osmany Salas, Belize Network of NGOs

“While the blue bonds initiative would be a tremendous achievement for Belize, a huge feather in our cap, it is important to point out that while the blue bonds initiative will support very important marine conservation work, expanding on the good work that we have done over the years, we look forward to also being consistent with the decisions that we make in our blue space, in our marine space, in particular, in relation to development.  So we expressed our concern in our press release that, you know, currently there are three cruise ports in development on the table: one that is already under construction, one that has received environmental clearance and a third that is undergoing EIA consultation process.  Now this country, I don’t see how this country can accommodate all three of those cruise port developments, in addition to the two that we already have in place at Fort Street [Tourism] Village and at Harvest Caye. This country cannot accommodate five cruise ports.”