On Friday August 20th, 2021, the National Climate Change Office within the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Management in collaboration with Cuba’s Institute of Marine Sciences and the GAMMA institute through an MOU with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) welcomed a team of four Coastal Development experts from the GAMMA institute of Cuba. The team is in Belize to conduct a comprehensive field assessment under the project entitled “Enhancing the Climate Resilience of Dangriga and Hopkins.”
During his welcome remarks to the team, Hon. Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management stated, “This partnership is very important because the teams bring to the table sound relevant experience. We know the causes of erosion and that these impacts are human driven so we are eager to look at the options that will help us to address these fundamental issues. We’re excited to see the outcomes of the assessments being done that will assist these communities as the impacts of climate change on coastal communities in Belize is representative of communities across the Caribbean to scale up some of the adaption and resilience building activities for climate change.”
The southern coastline is severely affected by erosion. The loss of the beach front is happening at an alarming rate and Hopkins and Dangriga are at risk to the adverse effects of climate change. A March 2019 preliminary assessment of coastal erosion in both communities showed that the shoreline has retreated to about 20-25 feet over the past 5 years. This project seeks to alleviate the impacts of coastal erosion in these communities and deliver tangible and immediate benefits to vulnerable groups affected by climate impacts.
Executive Director of the CCCCC’s, Dr Colin Young, told the delegation, “One of the areas the Centre is very interested in is the utilization of the ecosystem-based approaches. These areas will require quite a bit of resources and looking at how we can have a combination of approaches to help to stabilize impacts and to the extent where we can use natural solutions, acknowledging that it also has implications for land-use issues. This is also an excellent opportunity to educate the people who live in the communities about this interaction between sea level rise, climate change and land use issues that when you take sand from the river, cut down the mangroves and others, it will accelerate the coastal changes.”
The GAMMA team will commence field work on Tuesday August 24th in Dangriga Town, focusing on an assessment of the beach and nearshore system. The field assessment, which will be completed by September 12th, 2021, will result in the identification and feasibility study of appropriate climate technology solutions and the design and development of a shoreline recovery and stabilization project for Dangriga Town and Hopkins Village.
Counsellor Orestes A. Hernandez of the Embassy of Cuba in Belize expressed, “The Government of Cuba has put efforts and investments into developing the skills and experience in Science. This tri-lateral cooperation is important because it combines the skills of Cuba with that of 5Cs and the local entities.”
This activity is being funded under the Fourth National Communication and First biennial update report and the Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate Change and Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean (EnGenDER) Projects and the Government of Belize.
