10 Sep Interview with Hon. Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation, Belize
How is Belize impacted by environmental changes and how can you call upon stakeholders to adapt and mitigate?
Disaster management is a very critical component of the entire ministry, but also different ministries because it links all of us. Climate change is real. We see the empirical evidence and we have all the figures and studies showing it as well as what we see in reality. We have areas of Belize in the south that have been abandoned because of climate change, beach erosion and water encroachment. The entire cemetery is now underwater.
A new phenomenon that has been manifesting itself more recently is fire. We are having unprecedented droughts. We have always had seasonal forest fires; it can be looked at as regeneration, especially in the pine ridges, where the pine trees, at times, the burning triggers regeneration, but never an extreme amount. These all fall under the National Emergency Management Organization, a very important organization formed by the government that I lead. The organization is in charge of activating or deploying to fight whenever these disasters come along including fires, floods, hurricanes, droughts and forest fires. There was recently a perception that the National Emergency Management Organization is activated only from June to November when we are expecting storms that are coming out of the western coast of Africa. That perception has now been shattered because for the past five weeks, we have been battling massive fires and that’s even before the hurricanes come.
Why do I mention all of this? Because we have had an extreme drought. We have lost about 34,000 acres of land and lost many of our agricultural products. In particular, we have a very unique product that is very much coveted in Europe, which is the cacao beans to make chocolate. We’ve lost many cacao plantations and corn. The livelihoods of the Mayan people down south have been affected severely. They’ve lost the food products that they produce and they have lost thousands of acres of land. Their villages are being threatened. When you look at all the flora and fauna they’re all dying of smoke or being burned. This falls under our ministry. I can tell you that the Ministry of Disasters Management has been extremely active in the past three or four weeks.
Can you outline the Ministry of the Blue Economy and the work you do for the people and environment of Belize?
All of this is also directly linked to the Blue Economy. The Blue Economy is an exciting brand new ministry that was recently formed when we formed the government back in 2020. At the time in the Caribbean, there was only one country to help us to establish the Ministry of the Blue Economy. We are the second. I’ve been sharing the good news, especially around the region. We have colleagues who when we meet in Central America, ask me what the blue economy is. In essence, the blue economy encompasses everything. The blue space that we have as a country, we’re blessed with the blue waters, the blue capital if you want to call it. Our goal as a Ministry of Blue Economy, among our different departments, including the fisheries department, the Coastal Zone Management Authority Institute and several marine reserves that fall under the ministry as well. The goal is to take into consideration everything that our blue waters can offer. We are called to maximize the use of these waters as much as possible to exploit it, but it is important that we do it in a very sustainable manner. We have to cater to all stakeholders. We make it clear that the Ministry of Blue Economy is not an environmental portfolio, it is an economy-based ministry. At times, this is where confusion comes in. When the blue economy was established, the environmentalists were singing and they said yes, we finally have the blue economy. No, we are working along with them. They are key partners, of course, but also we must take into consideration our artisanal fisher folks, we have to take care of our reserves.
We commit to having 30% of the waters of Belize by 2030 to be under some form of conservation preservation. Perhaps even a point where only artisanal fisher folks can do limited fishing as it relates to artisanal fishing. In 2024, we are somewhere around 22%, which is well ahead of many of our regional neighbors. The way we are going it is quite likely we may be able to achieve it before 2030. I’m happy to be leading that ministry in that way. So it’s extremely important that we do that.
Belize has been recognized as a leading advocate for marine conservation. How important are international collaborations in Belize’s blue economy development, and what are some new or upcoming partnerships the ministry is stepping into?
It is recognized across the region and internationally that Belize is at the forefront in terms of not only conservation but leading their waters in a very sustainable manner. Under the framework where we have the blue economy, we need to start exploiting the deep blue waters to access the more expensive fish, but before we do, we must quantify what is the dollar value of what we have out there in terms of seafood that we can extract. Having done that study we can harvest it in a way that is very much quota dependent. It becomes fair and equitable for our fisher folks, but it’s protecting as well the production that can last for generations to come.
How has the Belize Blue Bond initiative contributed to the country’s blue economy development and sustainable finance strategies?
Blue Bonds are extremely important not only for the country but internationally. We are the second country after Seychelles to implement blue bonds, but whereas theirs was about $20 million, in Belize we’re talking about $250 million that we can work with the National Conservation Trust. The point we are trying to make is that our government took this, knowing it was a long-term project, we understood the great benefits that are coming from this for the country and we made the right decision.
Secondly Belize has become a case study. Colleagues in Costa Rica are asking how we did it, how can they learn from us? We, as a responsible country, are partners with our neighbors and we’re happy to share how we went about doing it. We are hoping that they or any other country can be successful or even do it better and improve. There is nothing wrong with that.
The third part is that it is yielding tangible results whereby everybody is included in the benefits of the blue funds, for example, our artisanal fisher folks who continue to benefit from different funding. Because our waters are being expanded in terms of conservation, we have a conservation target to meet with this agreement, which is 30 percent by 2030.
The Ministry of the Blue Economy is the main ministry assigned the responsibility to see that these conservation targets are met all along. We have a responsibility to see that the fisher folks are not left behind. We have to provide alternatives for them and that is what the blue bonds are doing.
What role do you see international partnerships play in strengthening your conservation efforts and what types of American partnerships would you be interested in?
It’s not what we would be interested in, but we as a government are hoping that other governments will recognize all waters. Although there are lines drawn between countries saying this is where Belize is, this is where Mexico is, this is where Guatemala, this is where Honduras is; it is pointless that there is only one country there doing everything the right way. Making sure that you’re managing waters in a very sustainable way then your neighbors not doing those best practices that we adopt is useless. So it is important that collaboration, regardless of government, must be working within and across governments. The fish don’t know any borders.
Another example is sargassum that has been attacking, especially the tourism sector, not only in Belize but the entire Central America and the Caribbean. We have to target, aim, and look at the causes of climate change. We have to hold the bigger countries accountable. We are a small island development state and we are calling for the bigger nations to do their part. This crisis of the Sargassum is directly affecting Belize and so is the Yucatan Peninsula and all the other islands. We must find the causes. High nutrients are reaching our Caribbean waters. Where is it coming from? Studies are showing that all these could be a convergence of the mighty rivers of South America, and the mighty Mississippi coming from the US. It could be all of this is converging in the Caribbean to create nutrients. Some scientists are saying that’s a real possibility because nutrients are what feed the algae. We need to partner with all these people and we want to partner with them, but especially the developed nations, they have a responsibility as well to participate. That’s why I’m sharing that we are happy to be partnering. It’s not because we want you to give us funding, but we are here saying we need assistance because we can show you proof of how we are being affected.
Similarly, whenever we get these funds Belize can showcase to the world that whatever assistance, whatever collaboration we get from countries, it is put to good use always. It’s not funding a country that is not transparent. We are very open, very democratic.
Do you have a final message for USA Today readers about choosing Belize as their next business, investment, or tourism destination?
We are open for business. It can become a cliche but it’s true. We are a very stable country, not only stable in terms of security and safety but also the democratic process that we display here. We are very democratic. Our elections are always very peaceful. The media in particular is very much respected hereand our government embraces the importance of the media. All of these things are something you need that the investors can look at.
There’s a little bit of everything you can do in just two weeks if you come to Belize, you can go to the mountains, do the cave tubing in one day and come back to your beach or to the island where you are staying in a hotel in one day. You can do diving, you can do snorkeling and you can do various types of fishing. including flats fishing which is some of the world’s best. Someone living in New York who loves to do flats fishing will pay a premium price for a couple of minutes. For that same amount of value they’re going to pay almost 60% less compared to Belize to do that very same type of fishing.
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