A new name and location has been added to the nation’s impressive collection of protected areas. On Saturday ceremonies were held for the official declaration of the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve. The property in question, although comprising only a hundred acres, includes the forested area of the island’s northern tip, a portion of sea grass […]
The countries at either end of the Caribbean may be several thousand miles apart but they all share the resources of a single body of water. This morning I sat in on a session intended to make the fishermen as multinational as the seafood they catch. For the first time fishing communities and organizations from […]
While a story earlier in this newscast may indicate otherwise, there is much more going on in Belizean waters than the transshipment of drugs. Tonight, in the second part of our story on the conservation of marine resources, we’ll see what steps fishermen are taking to insure the survival of their industry. Alan Burn, Chairman, […]
As part of its efforts to encourage and promote the protection, conservation and enhancement of Belize’s natural resources, the Protected Areas Conservation Trust, PACT, has awarded one hundred thousand dollars to four different Conservation organizations from across the country. Green Reef, Belize Enterprise for Sustainable Technology, Caye Caulker B.T.I.A. and the Conservation Division of the […]
Fifteen young Belizeans will this summer be the lucky recipients of scholarships to learn SCUBA diving. The program, offered by Coral Cay Conservation and U.C.B., with assistance from the Fisheries Department and Belize Texaco Limited, is the fourth of its kind to take place in Belize City. The program is divided into two sessions and […]
Connoisseurs of fine cuisine will have to forgive us, but we somehow allowed a very important date on the calendar to pass unnoticed. That date was the fifteenth of June and the event it marked was the official opening of lobster season. But while fishermen and food lovers are now busy catching and eating, the […]
The environment is an issue which has grown in national prominence and today one of Belize’s most forceful environmental advocates took the opportunity to keep it on the front burner. Patrick Jones reports. Armed with slides and aerial photographs of various parts of the country as evidence, the Belize Audubon Society today went public with […]
Reports from the north indicate that one of the area’s major Maya sites has been excavated…not by archaeologists, but by a public works crew building cane feeder roads. A report on LOVE FM indicated that tour operator Tom Greenwood, who visited the site this morning, found that half of one mound at the site, which […]
It may not have been a hurricane that hit Belize today but the torrents of rain that pounded the city and other coastal areas sometimes made us wonder. While the headquarters of the weather bureau at Ladyville received little more than a sprinkle, the rain gauge at St. John’s College monitored by Father Deikman, recorded […]
It was a story from a part of the country from which little is heard and still less is ever seen by the Belizean public. Early this year News Five sent a team to the idyllic village of Monkey River… and discovered that alongside the lush vegetation and friendly residents, an environmental disaster was threatening […]
Over the last year, News Five has brought you no less than a dozen stories documenting the plight of residents of the small Caribbean island of Montserrat who found themselves at the mercy of a pesky volcano. While life on the island appears to have returned to normal, another volcano, this one closer to home […]
Hopefully all those teachers at the M.C.C. Grounds will be carrying plenty of water because as we all know, the heat is on. News Five’s Patrick Jones visited the Weather Bureau this afternoon to see if any relief is in sight. Forecasters at the Belize Weather Bureau say that apart from a few record breaking […]
A number of activities took place countrywide today in commemoration of Earth Day. While many of these events sought to bring awareness of the importance of caring for the planet we inhabit, one organization involved in conservation used the occasion to give the public a look at the work it has been doing over the […]
For those who may not be aware, Wednesday, April twenty second is being celebrated in Belize as Earth Day. In honor of this event the Belize Audubon Society has announced that on Wednesday a number of the parks managed by the society will be opened to the public free of any admission charge. The parks […]
In other environmental news, officials of U.S.A.I.D. and representatives of the Central American Commission for Environment and Development, C.C.A.D., this afternoon signed an agreement adding six point five million dollars to an existing regional programme to help the environment. As C.C.A.D.’s current President, Minister of the Environment Henry Young signed on behalf of the Central […]
While we are just entering the season in which our so called leaders argue daily and loudly about who is destroying the country and whose party is best suited to repair it, the greatest threat to Belize may lie not in any political disaster… but a natural one. And thankfully those people, mostly scientists, who […]
Reports from Frank’s Eddy Village in the Cayo District say gravel mining on the Caves Branch River has been put on hold, apparently as a result of pressure from the Department of the Environment. According to Environmental Technician Albert Roches, he and other officials of the department visited the area last Thursday following a News […]
In the midst of a record heat wave it is not difficult to convince any Belizean that our world is getting hotter. But the potential peril of global warming goes beyond mere comfort. For coastal countries like Belize it could take the form of rising seas and flooding caused by the melting of the polar […]
In recent weeks we have documented with aerial photography the effect of quarrying operations on the Sibun River. Today we traveled on land to see close up the devastating effects of such mining on one of the Sibun’s major tributaries, the Cave’s Branch. In normal times the trip would have been made by boat. Today […]
The project faced a number of roadblocks, notably concerns from indigenous and environmental groups, but today another piece of the Southern Highway puzzle fell into place with a formal announcement by the government of the United Kingdom. The British have agreed to fully fund the upgrading and paving of the section from Big Creek to […]
It is a project that the Belize Weather Bureau has been trying to move from the drawing board for over a year: a television weather report that is relevant to Belizeans. Thanks to the initiative of one member of the business community, that dream is now one step closer to reality. On Thursday evening’s broadcast […]
It may not be as flagrant a violation as the twice reported dumping of raw medical waste in residential areas, but the pile of debris, dumped and burn today on the old Western Highway near the Burdon Canal Bridge, is still a danger. After receiving a call from a concerned viewer I traveled to the […]
In a follow up to the story we ran in yesterday’s newscast about a baby manatee stranded near the Deep Water Pier in Belize City, researchers say their efforts at saving the mammal were unsuccessful. According to Nicole Auil of the Coastal Zone Management Project, the calf died around three thirty this morning. When it […]
Conservation officials were called out to Deep Water Pier at the Port Authority today to rescue a young manatee stranded in the area. The calf, believed to be about a month old, was spotted swimming along the pier by workers this morning. According to Researcher Nicole Auil, the mother of the young mammal is believed […]
The Belize Weather Bureau today announced it is going to set up a state of the art observation platform in Belize City. The Bureau used the occasion of the forty eighth anniversary of the World Meteorological Organization to make the announcement. The new automatic weather station will compliment similar ones already in service at Half […]
