Environment

Pollution at New River

 in Environment / Environmental / Issues / Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development / Ministry of Natural Resources and Agriculture / Pollution / submitted  tagged Belize / Belizean people / Environment / Environmental Pollution / Government / Issues / Politics / Pollution by

It has been brought to our attention that the New River has become polluted by refuse from the Sugar Factory in Tower Hill. To whom it may concern,      I hope this email finds you doing well. I am a primary teacher at a private school in Carmelita Village. On a swimming trip to New River at the toll bridge in Tower Hill, Orange Walk, my friend and I experienced extremely warm, foamy water that stank and stung our eyes. We immediately got out and, upon closer inspection, noticed several dead fish floating along the bank. A tour operator […]

The struggle for Maya land, oil, and gold

 in Environment / Government / Human Rights / Issues / Legal / Maya / Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities / Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development / Ministry of Natural Resources and Agriculture / Ministry of Tourism and Culture / National / Oil / People / Politics  tagged Belize / Belizean / Belizean people / Central America / Costa Rica / Council of Western Peoples / Demographics of Guatemala / Environment / Free / Gold / Government / Guatemala / Guatemala City / Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention / Indigenous Rights / Issues / Land Rights / Law / Maya / Maya activism / Maya civilization / National Council for the Fulfilment of the Peace Accords / Oil / Politics / prior and informed consent (FPIC) / PUP / SATIIM / UDP / UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples / UN General Assembly / UN-DRIP / UNDRIP / United States / US Capital Energy by

by Robin Llewellyn 11 July 2012 After two very recent attacks on Maya community leaders in Guatemala, the challenges faced by the lawyers applying domestic law and international indigenous rights legislation to these conflicts are revealing, as legal concepts are reinterpreted by governments in indigenous communities across the Maya region of Central America. On the night of 12 June two men broke into the home of José Tavico Tzunun in Santa Cruz del Qiché, Western Guatemala, and murdered him. Tzunun was a member of the K’iche’ Peoples Council in Defense of Life, Mother Nature, Earth, and Indigenous Territory. He helped […]

Maya Land Rights & Governance

 in Environmental / Human Rights / Maya / Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development / Ministry of Natural Resources and Agriculture / National  tagged Belize / Belizean / Belizean people / Central America / Change / Constitution of Belize / Environment / Inter-American Commission on Human Rights / InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights / International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop / Issues / Maya / Maya Land Rights / Organization of American States / Supreme Court of Belize / UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination / United Nations by

Cristina Coc and Pabla Miss from the Maya Leaders Association Toledo Alcaldes Association discuss their advocacy for Maya land rights in Belize. Maya Land Rights: the Conejo and Santa Cruz Lawsuits Contact: Nancy Stanley, Associate Director for External Relations The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law 520-621-8430 (office) 520-979-0142 (cell) James Anaya 520-626-6341 (office) UA LAW PROFESSOR AND STUDENTS HELP SECURE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOR THE MAYA COMMUNITIES OF BELIZE In a potentially precedent-setting step with far-reaching implications, the Maya indigenous villages of Conejo and Santa Cruz will soon file claims in the Supreme Court of Belize, asserting […]

Resilient Communities with Cristina Coc

 in Climate Change / Culture / Environment / Environmental / Issues / Maya / Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities / Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development / Ministry of Human Development, Social Transformation and Poverty Alleviation / Ministry of Labour, Local Government, Rural Development, NEMO and Immigration / Ministry of Natural Resources and Agriculture / Ministry of Tourism and Culture / Ministry of Trade, Investment Promotion, Private Sector Development and Consumer Protection  tagged Aaron Sherinian / Alec Baldwin / Belize / Belizean / Belizean people / Central America / Change / Cristina Coc / Earth To Paris / Environment / Issues / Resilient Communities / United Nations by

Cristina Coc discusses issues with Alec Baldwin and Aaron Sherinian at Earth To Paris. Giving voice on an international platform to indigenous peoples of Belize as they talk about climate change and its solutions. “The most important thing is to learn from indigenous and forest communities on how they do sustainable development – Christina Coc” Governments have the responsibility to set the framework for action … but the energy and innovation really happens at the local and regional level. Related articles Climate warriors, renewables champions, carbon absorbers or not? (earthtimes.org) Tackling Climate Change in the Caribbean: Natural Solutions to a […]

Environment and development in coastal regions and in small islands

 in Economy / Environment / Environmental / Government / Issues / Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities / Ministry of Finance and Economic Development / Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development / Ministry of Natural Resources and Agriculture / National / Politics / Pollution / Tourism  tagged Banff Centre School of Management / Cancún / Cancún Island / Caracol / Caribbean Sea / crocodiles / Diario de Yucatán / Economic Development Unit / Environment / Geology / Hurricane Gilbert / J. Holder / juvenile fishes / lobster / Luis Echeverria / manatees / mangrove / marine life / Maya / Mexico / Nichupte / Novedades de Quintana Roo / Oil / Pemex / Peter V. Wiese / Quintana Roo / socio-environmental degradation / Tourism / Trinidad and Tobago / UNESCO-CSI / University of the West Indies / Yucatán / Yucatan Peninsula by

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF URBAN AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT A case history: Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico By Peter V. Wiese, retired exploration geologist Executive Summary Before its development, Cancún Island was a barrier island, 17 km long and 100-400 m wide. It faced the Caribbean Sea and enclosed a shallow lagoon and was an important nesting site for seabirds and sea turtles. There were several openings to the mangrove lined lagoon in which there was a variety of marine life. In order to create a tax base for the newly created state of Quintana Roo (1973), it was decided to create an […]

Letter to the Editor: Norwegian Cruise Line

 in Environment / Politics / Tourism  tagged Belize / BELIZE CITY / Belizean / Belizean people / Central America / Environment / Government / National Assembly / NCL / Norwegian Cruise Line / Politics / Stewart Krohn by

Dear Editor: I viewed with interest the hosting of a press tour by Norwegian Cruise Line and the explanation by NCL executive Colin Murphy of why the establishment of a cruise port at Harvest Caye would be such a wonderful blessing for Belize. What particularly prompts me to write is his astonishingly candid – and frightening – statement that “Really, what we are doing is locking ourselves into Belize”. Remember that word, “locked”. Although no longer a member of the Belizean media I could not help but think of a few questions for Mr. Murphy had I been present. Specifically […]

Government Pays for Nothing

 in Government / Issues / People  tagged Belize / Belizean people / Caribbean / Central America / Environment / Organizations / Sustainable development by

By: Hubert Pipersburgh Belize today a self-mutilating, cannibalizing system of governance and jurisprudence led by career minded, corrupt, unprincipled, lawyer politicians. The people have been trained from the inception of the nation that the clientele patronage system of currying favor for votes is the right and only way to sustainable development. Many say they are sick and tired of it, yet the only solutions they offer are shrouded within the narrow trajectory of bitter partisan divide. As a people we are captured by our own imagination. We have been bred to believe that the way forward lies within the benevolence […]

Monsanto is secretly poisoning the population with Roundup

 in BAGMO  tagged Agent Orange / Carrasco / Environment / frog embryos / Genetically modified crops / Genetically modified organism / GMO Products / Jeffrey M. Smith / La Leonesa / Monsanto / NaturalNews / Roundup / roundup herbicide / Roundup Ready / Roundup Ready soybean / roundup ready soybeans / Russian Academy of Sciences / Science by

Tuesday, October 04, 2011 by: Jeffrey M. Smith on Natural News (NaturalNews) Dr. Andreas Carrasco remained in the locked car and watched with fear as the crowd beat the vehicle and shouted at him — for two hours. His friends who didn’t make it into the vehicle were not so lucky. One ended up paralyzed. Another unconscious. The angry crowd of about 100 were likely organized by a local rice grower who was furious at Carrasco for what he was trying to do that day. Carrasco’s crime? Telling people that Roundup herbicide from Monsanto causes birth defects in animals, and […]

The new PCB: Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer turning up in air, rain and rivers

 in BAGMO  tagged agricultural belt / air and water / biotechnology giant monsanto / birth defects / Cancer / climate / consumer advocacy organization / developmental toxicity / DNA damage / DNA repair / endocrine disruption / Enivronment / Environment / Environmental Working Group / Environmental Working Group (EWG) / Genetically modified organism / Glyphosate / gm crops / GMO / GMO Products / Health / herbicide / Hugh Grant / Ken Cook / Monsanto / Monsanto PCB scandal / Natural News / NaturalNews / neurotoxicity / PCB / PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) / rainwater / reproductive and developmental toxicity / Roundup / Science / US Geological Survey / US Geological Survey (USGS) / USGS / water contamination by

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, Natural News staff writer (NaturalNews) Last month, the US Geological Survey (USGS) released a report showing that air, rainwater and rivers across the Midwest US agricultural belt are routinely contaminated with high levels of glyphosate, a pervasive herbicide produced by biotechnology giant Monsanto. And according to some, Monsanto has likely known about this for some time, but chosen to hide it from the public. After two years of gathering and analyzing environmental samples, USGS scientists determined that the more than 180 million pounds of glyphosate spread on conventional and genetically-modified (GM) crops […]

The Placencia Peninsula beach proposal

 in Issues / Ministry of Tourism and Culture / National / Tourism  tagged Belize / Belizean / Belizean people / Coast / Environment / Environmental protection / Environmental Protection and Maritime Transport Pollution Control in the Gulf of Honduras / Government / Guatemala / Gulf of Honduras / Honduras / Land Utilization Act / Maritime Transport Pollution Control / Mexico / Placencia / Placencia Peninsula / Placencia Sanitation Company / Puerto Barrios by

Dear Editor, The Placencia Peninsula beach is 17 miles long and is one of our main tourism assets. Majority of it is filthy almost all year round and especially during this time of year. This is unacceptable, and it is slowly eroding our image as the fastest growing tourism destination, and the best stretch of beach in Belize. We recently won Destination of the Year. To keep that prestige, we need to focus our energies on our beach. In October 2010 the Gulf of Honduras (GOH) was launched with an objective of: “Environmental Protection and Maritime Transport Pollution Control in […]

CABINET'S DECISION ON NCL'S PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT ON CRAWL CAYE

 in Environment / Government / Politics / Press Release / Tourism  tagged Ambergris Caye / Belize / Belizean / Belmopan / Environment / Environmental protection / Government / Hydrocarbon exploration / Norwegian Cruise Line / Press release by

Belizeans and true friends of Belize, It appears as though the Cabinet has made a pronouncement concerning the proposed Norwegian Cruise Lines development on Crawl Caye. As with all things, especially in dealing with matters deriving from this administration, a word to the wise is that despite what you glean from the press release…”the devil is in the details”. On the surface it looks as though the Cabinet made a wise, sound and appropriate decision, based on the statutes involving environmental protection. Yet, it causes the “enquiring mind” to query why, on one hand they opt to disregard issues pertaining […]

Norwegian Cruise Lines, the GOB and Belize's Barrier Reef 1

 in Environment / Environmental / Pollution / Tourism  tagged Belize / Belizean / Belizean people / Belizeans / Environment / Government / Great Barrier Reef / Great Blue Hole / Issues / Norwegian Cruise Lines / Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) / Politics / True Friends of Belize / UNESCO / UNESCO World Heritage site by

Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL)…you won’t destroy our Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site, our Great Blue Hole and its surrounding eco-systems, to build a casino and more! Not on our watch and not in our backyard! Belizeans, and True Friends of Belize, please help us raise awareness by sharing and making this go viral. As early as next week, the Belize government is taking this issue to Cabinet for a vote: whether or not to grant NCL permission to proceed with their proposed development within this fragile UNESCO World Heritage Site.Less than two weeks ago, the world was appalled […]