Belize is vulnerable and heavily affected by Climate Change

Climate change is a global issue that unfortunately affects developing nations more than the developed continents. Just one degree in temperature has serious economic implications for many nations including Belize. That is why stakeholders along with the Climate Change Center and the Ministry of Natural Resources gathered for the Belize Third National Communication to the UNFCCC Project Workshop. According to the International Regional Liaison Office for the Climate Change Center, Belize has already experienced the negative impact of a shift in global temperature. Carlos Fuller says that the devastation of the pine forest along with coral bleaching of the reef are all caused by temperature increases.

Carlos Fuller, Int’l Regional Liaison Officer, Climate Change Center

Carlos Fuller

“In the case of Belize, it is recognized as one of the countries most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Globally, temperatures around the world have risen by zero point seven degrees Celsius since the advent of industrial evolution and sea level has risen. However, studies of Belize itself—using our own weather data—have temperatures in only the past forty years have risen by one degree. So our level of warming is exceeding the global average. So we are in a worse state than most countries. Some impacts that we have already experienced for example are coral bleaching episodes. Since 1995 we have gone through four major coral bleaching episodes and in fact we have not even recovered from the first one. So, over sixty percent of our reefs are in bad, bad shape because of global warming. We experienced the bark beetle infestation that decimated seventy-five percent of the pine forest—again directly attributed to climate change. We have had many more severe flooding episodes than we ever had before; more intense rainfall in a short period of time—washing out the area of Dangriga, washing out bridges. Again directly attributed to climate change. We are having more dengue outbreaks again attributed to climate change. So many of the adverse impacts are already occurring and we have only started the whole process and that is only with a one degree rise of temperature in Belize. It is expected that at the best we will see quite likely a two degree rise in temperature in the next few years. So if the small changes are already affecting us, imagine what the big effects are going to be. And that is the best case scenario. The way things are going it is quite likely that it is going to be rising by six or seven degrees Celsius. In fact that means disaster for the country of Belize. Studies that we have done have shown that if that occurs, Belize is going to lose every one of its beaches by the end of century. It shows that with a two degree rise of temperature, our production of rice, beans and corn are going to fall by twenty percent. Sugar cane and citrus are going to be falling by ten percent of productivity. Again so the economic, the health, the water, everything in Belize is going to be adversely affected and the worse thing is that we are not contributing to climate change. Belize’s emissions account to less than one hundredth of a percent of the global emissions. In fact our forests are absorbing more carbon dioxide that we emit. So we are one of the good guys, but we are facing one of the worse consequences of climate change.”