Belize Is Ending All Offshore Oil Drilling In Its Waters

Skype January 9, 2018 Around The World, World News Leave a comment 502 Views

The reign of fossil fuels is coming to an end in Belize. In a colossal attempt to conserve the world’s second biggest barrier reef, the Central American nation has actually officially chosen to end all oil exploration and extraction in its waters.

The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300-kilometer-long (186-mile-long) strip of beautiful reef, sensational clear waters, offshore atolls, mangrove forests, coastal lagoons, and estuaries that lie within the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.

It’s often referred to as one of the most diverse communities on the planet, acting as the home of around 100 various types of coral, numerous invertebrate types, and over 500 fish types. As such, the Belize Barrier Reef was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Ever considering that the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, when 4.9 million barrels of oil flooded into the Gulf of Mexico, the individuals of Belize and environmental groups have been pushing for their government to make this choice. The nation very first proposed this idea in late-2015 and they finally handled to pass the expense in the last week of 2017.

“This is genuinely ‘Individuals’s Law,'” Oceana’s Vice President for Belize Janelle Chanona said in a statement.”Belizeans have actually stayed unfaltering in their opposition to overseas oil considering that they ended up being aware that marine assets were at threat of permanent damage from the overseas oil industry.”

Although environmentalism is a substantial driving force behind the bill, Belize does have some other big incentives to safeguard their wondrous reefs. The Belize Barrier Reef is the nation’s greatest tourist attraction, contributing up to $237 million a year to its economy. Not just that, the reef likewise functions as a fishery, offering food and employment for almost 190,000 individuals.

“Today is a terrific day for Belize,” Nadia Bood, Mesoamerican reef researcher at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), stated in a statement. “Not just has its federal government listened to calls to safeguard the Belize Barrier Reef, which only last year was under threat from seismic oil exploration, it has actually stepped up to become a world leader in ocean protection by ending all oil activity in its waters.”

Chris Gee, WWF-UK’s #SaveOurHeritage lead advocate, included:”Like the Belize Barrier Reef, nearly half of natural World Heritage sites around the world are threatened by industrial pressures, if we do not put an end to this, their special wildlife and landscapes could be harmed permanently.”

Back in the United States, the Trump administration has recently revealed plans to release the largest number of offshore oil and gas lease sales in US history, including secured locations in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. Two steps forward and one step back, I suppose.