Tourism Minister in talks with UNESCO on Barrier Reef

The Ministry of Tourism also weighed in its formal position on the possible delisting of Belize’s Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO at its press conference today.  According to Tourism Minister Manuel Heredia, government is in talks with UNESCO to maintain Belize’s status retain the Barrier Reef among the main attractions for cruise and overnight tourism.

Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism

manuel heredia jr.

“We have been working, I think we have met with the people several times assuring them that as a responsible government we will continue to make sure that we do the right things not to damage or affect our reef.  As a fisherman, previous fisherman and still loving the sea so much I am one of the first ones that will cry foul whenever anything that will affect our reef comes along noh.  So I see no fear in probably thinking or speculating that we will lose that World Heritage.”

lindsay garbutt

Lindsay Garbutt

“If I could add to that minister [uhm] we met for about three hours.  A team of people with the director and myself on Friday looking to frame a response because there were some specific issues that was cited by the World Heritage Site committee. And we are working together with the NGO community and key people within other ministries to frame a response and like the minister, the reef has been a part of my life and certainly we know how much importance.  To me the reef defines Belize and losing the World Heritage Site status would be a tragedy so rest assured that the government, the ministry and all the key players including the NGOs that have a responsibility for some of the management of the key resources are coming together to make sure that we do not lose that status.”

The Ministry of Natural Resources has agreed to meet with the NGO conservation community on December fourteenth to discuss preparing a joint response to UNESCO regarding the status of the Barrier Reef.