Belize is a nation roughly the size of New Hampshire and home to about 300,000 persons. Yet its ethnic and linguistic diversity is disproportionate to its size: Mayans, Garifunas (of African descent), Spanish and English-speakers of European descent, and combinations of all four make up the cultural tableau. Winding waterways lushly lined with tropical forests connect small villages and provide avenues for transportation and recreation from the interior to its world-renowned coast. In addition to one of the longest barrier reefs in the world, Belize boasts wetlands that have been recognized by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Unfortunately, both its human and natural resources are in peril: its people, a third of whom live in poverty, lack economic opportunities and place undue pressures on protected areas. Communities and protected areas are also threatened by oil exploration and commercial logging activities that have historically not taken into account local needs, ownership rights, or conservation imperatives.

Since 2000, EcoLogic together with our partner, the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, has tackled these challenges. Providing training to park personnel that has distinguished the Sarstoon-Temash National Park as the best managed in the country, increasing livelihood alternatives to residents in the park's buffer zones, and strengthening the Institute's capacity to represent the land rights of indigenous communities at the national level, EcoLogic is making a difference in Belize.

Our Support Made Possible

• 42,018 acres of coastal wetlands and mangrove forests protected
• Landmark legal victory achieved for indigenous land rights for communities buffering the park
• Five village resource centers built that offer eco-friendly tourism activities coordinated by locals
• Two river campsites built to further river-based ecotourism development
• Advisory committee established to determine local priorities for upcoming bi-national natural resource management negotiations
• 18 communities engaged in formulating strategies for community leadership in natural resource management

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