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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?location=belize&#038;post_type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/belize/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:03:31 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Belize environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/belize/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Mennonites from Belize spark deforestation fears with new settlement plans in Suriname</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mennonites-from-belize-spark-deforestation-fears-with-new-settlement-plans-in-suriname/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mennonites-from-belize-spark-deforestation-fears-with-new-settlement-plans-in-suriname/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 15:55:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08154508/DSC00752-1-768x500.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317187</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Belize, Central America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Politics, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SHIPYARD, Belize — Mennonite families in Belize are preparing to move to Suriname to establish massive farming communities in a heavily forested area, multiple sources told Mongabay, raising concerns that they may soon be cutting down trees to grow crops. The deal could cost millions of dollars and cover more land than the U.S. city [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SHIPYARD, Belize — Mennonite families in Belize are preparing to move to Suriname to establish massive farming communities in a heavily forested area, multiple sources told Mongabay, raising concerns that they may soon be cutting down trees to grow crops. The deal could cost millions of dollars and cover more land than the U.S. city of Baltimore, according to documents reviewed by Mongabay. The potential move comes amid debate by officials in Suriname over how to increase domestic food production without compromising one of the highest levels of forest cover in the world. Belizean Mennonites have traveled to Suriname at least six times in recent years to scout thousands of hectares of land and learn about local regulations, working with businessmen who have spent the past several years trying to attract the famously agro-savvy Mennonites from different parts of Central and South America. Across Latin America, Mennonites have also been criticized for illegal deforestation, circumventing environmental regulations, and settling on land with disputed or unclear titles. Some critics say the arrival of Mennonites in Suriname could threaten the rainforest, which covers about 93% of the country. “Any activity by Mennonites in Suriname to me is disturbing,” said Ben D’Leon​, a member of the NGO Amazon Conservation Team, Guianas, speaking in a personal capacity. “I’m simply basing that on the factual evidence on this continent. If you look at anywhere that they’ve been active, I don’t believe we can see a trend of positive outcomes for nature and Indigenous and tribal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mennonites-from-belize-spark-deforestation-fears-with-new-settlement-plans-in-suriname/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mennonites-from-belize-spark-deforestation-fears-with-new-settlement-plans-in-suriname/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Mike Heusner, steward of Belize’s waters, has died, aged 86</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/mike-heusner-steward-of-belizes-waters-has-died-aged-86/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/mike-heusner-steward-of-belizes-waters-has-died-aged-86/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2026 15:55:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/16155327/Mike-Heusner-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=313071</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Mesoamerica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Green, Obituary, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For a small country, Belize has long carried an outsized reputation among people who care about water. Its flats and mangroves, its reef and river systems, have drawn anglers and naturalists who come for beauty but stay, if they are paying attention, for the fragile bargain that keeps such places alive. Tourism can finance protection. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For a small country, Belize has long carried an outsized reputation among people who care about water. Its flats and mangroves, its reef and river systems, have drawn anglers and naturalists who come for beauty but stay, if they are paying attention, for the fragile bargain that keeps such places alive. Tourism can finance protection. It can also erode the very ecosystems it depends on. Few industries have to argue so often that their future rests on restraint. That tension became sharper as Belize’s economy modernized and the pressures on its marine life grew more visible. The debate was never only about fish. It was about livelihoods, access, and who gets to decide what “development” means in a place where nature is not a backdrop but a working asset. The people who shaped that conversation were not always politicians or scientists. Some were business owners who spent enough time on the water to see what was changing, and who learned to speak in the language of policy when it mattered. Michael J. “Mike” Heusner, who died on January 10th at 86, was one of them. For decades he was a leading figure in Belize’s tourism and sportfishing sectors and a steady advocate for conservation. He helped build Belize River Lodge into a premier destination for anglers, while pushing the idea that the country’s natural environment was not separate from its economy, but the condition of its survival. Heusner’s authority came from lived experience and long committee meetings. He served with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/mike-heusner-steward-of-belizes-waters-has-died-aged-86/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/mike-heusner-steward-of-belizes-waters-has-died-aged-86/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Study finds important Nassau grouper spawning site in Belize near collapse</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Nov 2025 17:18:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marco Lopez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/20105811/4-OceanImageBank_ConnorHolland_25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309888</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Caribbean, and Central America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Oceans, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HOPKINS, Belize — The Nassau grouper is drawn by the winter moon, between December and March, to special places where hundreds of the cryptic fish engage in a reproductive dance that sometimes lasts days. Northeast Point at Glover’s Reef Atoll, off the coast of southern Belize, is one of those places. The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HOPKINS, Belize — The Nassau grouper is drawn by the winter moon, between December and March, to special places where hundreds of the cryptic fish engage in a reproductive dance that sometimes lasts days. Northeast Point at Glover’s Reef Atoll, off the coast of southern Belize, is one of those places. The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) is a large-bodied, top-level predatory reef fish. Its pale tan to reddish-brown body with five dark vertical bars makes it easily recognizable. While these fish hide well, spending their days lounging in reef crevices and only emerging to feed at night, their highly predictable spawning aggregations make for an easy catch for opportunistic fishers. The species was once the most abundant and commercially important fish in the Caribbean. In Belize, fisheries records indicate that Nassau grouper was the most-caught fish during the 1960s, with estimated catches of more than 30,000 fish per year from a single aggregation site, Caye Glory. Northeast Point is one of Belize’s 13 officially recognized fish spawning aggregation (FSA) sites for Nassau grouper. The aggregation there was also once an impressive sight, drawing an estimated 15,000 fish in 1975. Today, that moonlit annual gathering has all but vanished. The number of fish attending has declined by 85% over the past two decades and is now “on a trajectory towards local extirpation,” according to a recent study. It attributes the decline to the government’s limited capacity to enforce regulations aimed at protecting the groupers from fishing at this remote site. “Since&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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						<item>
					<title>Are Belize&#8217;s fisheries policies delivering?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/belizes-blue-bond-a-reef-reality-check/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/belizes-blue-bond-a-reef-reality-check/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2025 11:21:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/08101002/fish-belize-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=309634</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize and Central America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Belize has built an enviable brand as a small country taking on a big problem: how to keep the sea alive while sustaining the people who depend on it. The story sells well. A 2021 debt-for-nature “blue bond” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Belize has built an enviable brand as a small country taking on a big problem: how to keep the sea alive while sustaining the people who depend on it. The story sells well. A 2021 debt-for-nature “blue bond” reduced public debt and guaranteed conservation funding for two decades. Targets for 30% ocean protection are law. Donors and the press have applauded. Yet, on the water, the question lingers: are the reefs and fish showing it? The achievements are real. The blue bond converted Belize’s “Superbond” into a conservation-backed loan that cut debt by 12% of GDP and directed roughly $180 million toward marine protection. Monitoring pilots are underway, linking results-based finance to measurable ecological and social outcomes. Lighthouse Reef, one of the country’s crown jewels, gained new legal protection. These are serious gains. But they coexist with troubling signals. The regional “report card” for the Mesoamerican Reef, released in 2024, inched upward thanks to herbivorous fish rebounds, yet the overall grade remained “Poor.” Independent assessments show that conch and lobster, Belize’s export mainstays, are under stress. The Sea Around Us project estimates most stocks are fished beyond sustainable levels. Groupers and snappers have declined by about 60% in regional monitoring, echoing fishers’ accounts that large individuals have become scarce. A 2025 peer-reviewed study found Nassau grouper at Glover’s Reef nearly gone despite two decades of closures and bans, and warned of “impending extirpation.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/belizes-blue-bond-a-reef-reality-check/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/belizes-blue-bond-a-reef-reality-check/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Belize’s blue reputation vs. reef reality: Marine conservation wins, and what’s missing (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/belizes-blue-reputation-vs-reef-reality-marine-conservation-wins-and-whats-missing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/belizes-blue-reputation-vs-reef-reality-marine-conservation-wins-and-whats-missing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2025 20:34:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/08101002/fish-belize-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308680</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Caribbean, Central America, and Mesoamerica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Green, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Belize sells itself as a small-country answer to a big problem: how to keep the sea alive and the people who depend on it working. The pitch is strong. A debt-for-nature “blue bond” shaved public debt and created a 20-year conservation finance stream. Targets for 30% ocean protection by 2026 are now embedded in policy. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Belize sells itself as a small-country answer to a big problem: how to keep the sea alive and the people who depend on it working. The pitch is strong. A debt-for-nature “blue bond” shaved public debt and created a 20-year conservation finance stream. Targets for 30% ocean protection by 2026 are now embedded in policy. The press has been kind. So have donors. Yet beneath the awards and ribbon cuttings sits a harder question: do the reefs and fish show it? And are day-to-day rules on the water keeping pace with the promises on paper? Start with the wins, because they’re significant. A case study from The Nature Conservancy documents the 2021 transaction that converted Belize’s “Superbond” into a blue loan backed by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) cutting public debt by roughly 12% of GDP and earmarking about $180 million over two decades for marine conservation, alongside a government commitment to protect 30% of its waters by 2026. A new monitoring pilot, using a People-Planet-Prosperity (“3Ps”) framework for results-based finance, sets up a central system to track whether conservation and development targets are being met. In 2024, the government, WWF, WCS and Belize’s Development Finance Corporation launched a pilot credit facility at Glover’s Reef offering compliance-linked loans to licensed artisanal fishers. And in late 2024, Belize formalized new limits by expanding and re-gazetting protected zones at Lighthouse Reef Atoll, one of the crown jewels of the barrier reef system. Officials point to these as proof that Belize’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/belizes-blue-reputation-vs-reef-reality-marine-conservation-wins-and-whats-missing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/belizes-blue-reputation-vs-reef-reality-marine-conservation-wins-and-whats-missing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Belize project seeks out heat-resilient corals to protect its reefs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/belize-project-seeks-out-heat-resilient-corals-to-protect-its-reefs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/belize-project-seeks-out-heat-resilient-corals-to-protect-its-reefs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2025 19:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marco Lopez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/19191745/shark-coral-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304503</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Caribbean, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Invertebrates, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Research, Temperatures, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HOPKINS, Belize — Heaters, pumps and computerized meters rigged to an everyday picnic icebox may seem like a high school science project. But this heat stress tank may hold the key to finding the most heat-resilient corals in Belize’s waters. As climate change and other human-caused stressors continue to push these rainforests of the sea [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HOPKINS, Belize — Heaters, pumps and computerized meters rigged to an everyday picnic icebox may seem like a high school science project. But this heat stress tank may hold the key to finding the most heat-resilient corals in Belize’s waters. As climate change and other human-caused stressors continue to push these rainforests of the sea closer toward collapse, finding and protecting coral with the highest chance of surviving in the world to come has become a key method to ensuring marine life and the ecosystem services they provide are preserved. This is what the multinational collaborative effort known as the Super Reefs program hopes to help Belize achieve. The initiative is helmed by experts from the U.S.-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Stanford University and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), along with officials from the Belize government and other Belizean stakeholders. “Not all corals are born the same,” Anne Cohen, a tenured scientist at WHOI, who started the Super Reefs program in 2017, told Mongabay. In 2015, Cohen witnessed how extreme heat killed off 98% of the coral in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, west of Hawai‘i. “That’s just one example of the kinds of things that have been happening since the mid-1990s,” Cohen said. “So, we were in the Pacific, along with many other coral reef groups around the world, we were monitoring these events and the impact on the reefs, but I also noticed that there were some coral reefs and some parts of coral reefs that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/belize-project-seeks-out-heat-resilient-corals-to-protect-its-reefs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Mennonite farming in Belize threatens essential biological corridor, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mennonite-farming-in-belize-threatens-essential-biological-corridor-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mennonite-farming-in-belize-threatens-essential-biological-corridor-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 15:46:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/15144314/photo_968-1-768x470.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302420</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Land Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A stretch of rainforest in Belize that allows wildlife to pass freely between protected areas is under threat of deforestation, and conservationists are scrambling to contain the damage. Mennonites, a highly conservative Christian sect, own thousands of acres of rainforest that currently make up part of the Maya Forest Corridor, but plans to clear it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A stretch of rainforest in Belize that allows wildlife to pass freely between protected areas is under threat of deforestation, and conservationists are scrambling to contain the damage. Mennonites, a highly conservative Christian sect, own thousands of acres of rainforest that currently make up part of the Maya Forest Corridor, but plans to clear it for farming and quarrying could sever the connection and weaken local ecosystems, critics say. “Wildlife disperse and move in order for them to survive,” Betsy Mallory, scientific adviser for the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center, said at a public consultation in June. “They need populations. They need to breed. They need to find mates.” The Maya Forest Corridor spans approximately 37,000 hectares (91,000 acres) and is the last section of forest connecting some of the most biodiverse protected areas in the country, the Belize Maya Forest and Maya Mountains Massif. The protected areas are made up of tropical forests, savannas, wetlands and cave systems that provide habitats for animals like jaguars (Panthera onca), Yucatán black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra) and Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii), among others. There are also Maya artifacts in the area. The corridor isn’t one contiguous conservation area, but rather a collection of smaller protected areas and private property. In recent years, environmental groups like the Maya Forest Corridor Trust and Re:wild have tried to buy up as much private land as they can, including a 12,100-hectare (30,000-acre) stretch of forest in 2021 for $21.5 million. But other acquisitions haven’t always gone&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mennonite-farming-in-belize-threatens-essential-biological-corridor-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly half of tree species in Mexico and Central America threatened with extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/nearly-half-of-tree-species-in-mexico-and-central-america-threatened-with-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/nearly-half-of-tree-species-in-mexico-and-central-america-threatened-with-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2025 13:48:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/30153330/costa_rica_osa_0077-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302104</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Extinction, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lions have been dubbed the king of the jungle, but one could argue the real royalty are the trees, the massive woody beasts that hold down the land and root the web of life that teems around them. In Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America), which hosts 10% of all plant life on Earth despite covering [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lions have been dubbed the king of the jungle, but one could argue the real royalty are the trees, the massive woody beasts that hold down the land and root the web of life that teems around them. In Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America), which hosts 10% of all plant life on Earth despite covering only 0.5% of the planet’s land surface, nearly half of all tree species are in trouble. Of the 4,046 known tree species found only in Mesoamerica, 1,867, or 46%, are threatened with extinction, according to a new study published in the journal Plants, People, Planet. The research represents the first comprehensive assessment of Mesoamerican trees. The study was part of the Global Tree Assessment, a decade-long initiative to evaluate the conservation status of all the world&#8217;s tree species. Researchers used the standards of the IUCN Red List, which tracks how close species are to disappearing worldwide. The IUCN Red List categorizes species into nine groups, ranging from not evaluated to extinct, by considering factors such as population decline, habitat loss, and population size. Before this assessment, less than 20% (700) of the tree species of the region had been assessed on the IUCN Red List before 2019. Fungi in Costa Rica. Through their entire life cycle and beyond, tropical trees host an abundance of life. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.com. &#8220;It&#8217;s an important study — essentially a clarion call for conserving endangered tree species in Mesoamerica,&#8221; William Laurance, a tropical ecologist at James&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/nearly-half-of-tree-species-in-mexico-and-central-america-threatened-with-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Restoration, protection aim to save Belize’s coral reef from extreme heat and disease</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/restoration-protection-aim-to-save-belizes-coral-reef-from-extreme-heat-and-disease/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/restoration-protection-aim-to-save-belizes-coral-reef-from-extreme-heat-and-disease/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2025 04:48:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marco Lopez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/08101002/fish-belize-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302027</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Belize, Caribbean, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Diseases, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Invertebrates, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Temperatures, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PLACENCIA, Belize — After Hurricane Iris decimated the coral reef at Laughing Bird Caye National Park in 2001, many wrote off the UNESCO World Heritage site as a coral graveyard. But a small group from the coastal village of Placencia, Belize, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the island, saw hope. In 2006, the park [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PLACENCIA, Belize — After Hurricane Iris decimated the coral reef at Laughing Bird Caye National Park in 2001, many wrote off the UNESCO World Heritage site as a coral graveyard. But a small group from the coastal village of Placencia, Belize, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the island, saw hope. In 2006, the park had just 6% live coral cover. By 2023, it had reached approximately 60% — the result of the group planting more than 92,000 fragments of coral within the 1-hectare (2.5-acre) shallow fringing reef. The group, Fragments of Hope (FOH), is a Belize-based nonprofit organization focused on restoring coral reef habitats. Their work at Laughing Bird Caye is widely regarded as the best example of reef restoration in the Caribbean. But while the park stands as a beacon of hope for coral restoration, it has not been immune to the onslaught of record-breaking temperatures occurring globally. “2024 was the worst bleaching event since we’ve been recording around 2008,” Lisa Carne, FOH’s founder, said during an interview with Mongabay. Many of the corals planted at Laughing Bird have succumbed to extreme heat stress and disease. At Moho Caye, another restoration site, live coral cover dropped from more than 50% to less than 5%, “likely reflecting similar declines at Laughing Bird,” Carne said. It’s not just Laughing Bird and Moho. Unprecedented coral bleaching, a relatively new illness called stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), and other threats to corals are negatively impacting reef health across Belize, and it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/restoration-protection-aim-to-save-belizes-coral-reef-from-extreme-heat-and-disease/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Fire is both destruction and rebirth for Maya communities of Belize</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/fire-is-both-destruction-and-rebirth-for-maya-communities-of-belize/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/fire-is-both-destruction-and-rebirth-for-maya-communities-of-belize/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2025 14:51:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/27055508/Spiritual-Ceremony-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301527</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Climate Change, Culture, Fires, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Landscape Restoration, Religions, Restoration, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUNTA GORDA, Belize — Rosa Mis walks on a carpet of cracking dry leaves under the scorching sun of late May. Her green T-shirt blends in with the newly grown grass, medicinal herbs and plantain trees. One year ago, this land went up in flames. “Our 3 hectares [7.4-acre] farm burned for six days and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUNTA GORDA, Belize — Rosa Mis walks on a carpet of cracking dry leaves under the scorching sun of late May. Her green T-shirt blends in with the newly grown grass, medicinal herbs and plantain trees. One year ago, this land went up in flames. “Our 3 hectares [7.4-acre] farm burned for six days and nights,” remembers Mordy Kayo Mis, Rosa’s 31-year-old son. “We did everything possible to stop it by building a fire break line with dry leaves, aware of wind directions. All the community came to help, bringing water from the nearest springs.” Rosa Mis, 62, is the alcalde, or leader, of the Laguna community, one of the most affected by the wildfires of May 2024. Laguna is part of the 41 communities inhabited by the Maya Indigenous people of southern Belize, in the Toledo district. In the region, the 2024 wildfires burned 43,987 hectares (108,695 acres), a staggering 10.2% of the region’s forest and farmland. The flames turned tropical forests and farms into ashes. Residents and firefighters say the fires were brought on by multiple factors: traditional agricultural fires that go out of control, electric line management or discarded cigarettes. The climate crisis is also exacerbating fires around the world. But for the Maya people, fire has always been a sacred element, central in ancestral Mother Earth celebration ceremonies. It has also been used in the traditional practice of slash-and-burn for millennia, where vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown to regenerate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/fire-is-both-destruction-and-rebirth-for-maya-communities-of-belize/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Cacao agroforestry in Belize hits the sweet spot for people and nature</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/cacao-agroforestry-in-belize-hits-the-sweet-spot-for-people-and-nature/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/cacao-agroforestry-in-belize-hits-the-sweet-spot-for-people-and-nature/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2025 13:53:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/26082659/etty-fidele-oJpkjWcScyg-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301428</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Cacao, Conservation, Crops, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Plantations, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Maya Golden Landscape in southern Belize is a patchwork of protected areas, agricultural lands and small communities, part of the greater Maya Forest, the second-largest tropical forest in the Americas, after the Amazon. It’s a haven for predators like jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor), and threatened species like Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Maya Golden Landscape in southern Belize is a patchwork of protected areas, agricultural lands and small communities, part of the greater Maya Forest, the second-largest tropical forest in the Americas, after the Amazon. It’s a haven for predators like jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor), and threatened species like Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) and harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja), among countless others. Yet this landscape, like so many others in the tropics, is under continuous pressure. Land managers have had to balance the needs of biodiversity with those of the communities living here. And they’ve turned to cacao, a traditional Maya crop still widely cultivated for home consumption — and the raw ingredient for chocolate — as part of the answer. Belize’s first agroforestry concession The Maya Golden Landscape spans around 300,000 hectares (about 741,000 acres). About one twentieth of this area – 14,569 hectares (36,000 acre) – is dedicated to Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve, a type of protected zone where limited extractive activities are permitted. The reserve was established in 1997, and initially faced the same pressure that besets much of the area: the encroachment of banana and citrus plantations, poaching, and illegal logging, especially along its southern border. Portions of the reserve were stripped of their protected status in subsequent years, but the problems persisted. In 2012, a group of farmers from the nearby community of Trio, along with the nonprofit Ya’axché Conservation Trust, proposed agroforestry as a way to reconcile the needs of communities and conservation.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/cacao-agroforestry-in-belize-hits-the-sweet-spot-for-people-and-nature/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>To survive climate change, scientists say protected areas need ‘climate-smart’ planning</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/to-survive-climate-change-scientists-say-protected-areas-need-climate-smart-planning/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/to-survive-climate-change-scientists-say-protected-areas-need-climate-smart-planning/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2025 16:37:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marina Martinez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/13061201/1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300731</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Atlantic Forest, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo Basin, Global, Guiana Shield, Indonesia, Latin America, Mexico, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, Protected Areas, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous lands are the foundation of biodiversity conservation. However, climate change is threatening their effectiveness in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and livelihoods. As many countries work to meet the global target of protecting 30% of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030 — known as the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous lands are the foundation of biodiversity conservation. However, climate change is threatening their effectiveness in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and livelihoods. As many countries work to meet the global target of protecting 30% of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030 — known as the 30&#215;30 goal, a cornerstone of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — scientists are calling for the incorporation of “climate-smart” approaches into the planning of new and existing protected areas. The 30&#215;30 Progress Tracker tool shows how the global movement to protect 30% of the world’s lands and waters by 2030 is progressing — with around 17% of global land and inland waters, and 8% of oceans currently protected. Image ©&#xfe0f; SkyTruth. “While we know that climate change is affecting biodiversity, for example through distribution range shifts, local extinctions, and community restructuring, designs of PAs [protected areas] don’t usually explicitly account for these effects,” says Kristine Buenafe, a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at the University of Queensland, Australia, and lead author of a recent review published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity. Buenafe’s paper indicates that conservationists risk protecting areas where species may no longer live in the future, if they don’t factor in climate change dynamics. “We’ve reached a critical time to consider where to best place our new PAs and make sure that they are ‘climate-smart’ (resilient to climate change),” Buenafe said in an email interview. This reasoning is echoed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/to-survive-climate-change-scientists-say-protected-areas-need-climate-smart-planning/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Researchers race to understand disease killing Caribbean corals at unprecedented rates</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/researchers-race-to-understand-new-disease-killing-caribbean-corals-at-unprecedented-rates/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/researchers-race-to-understand-new-disease-killing-caribbean-corals-at-unprecedented-rates/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2025 01:35:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/05205502/1-Antonio-Busiello-coral-disease-Honduras-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300271</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Belize, Caribbean, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Climate Change, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Diseases, Ecosystems, Environment, Green, Invertebrates, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This May, divers found stony coral tissue loss disease on corals in Laughing Bird Caye National Park, Belize, for the first time. The team from Fragments of Hope, a nonprofit, regularly monitors the site. A month previously there had been no sign at all of the disease. But on their trip in May, they found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This May, divers found stony coral tissue loss disease on corals in Laughing Bird Caye National Park, Belize, for the first time. The team from Fragments of Hope, a nonprofit, regularly monitors the site. A month previously there had been no sign at all of the disease. But on their trip in May, they found pillar (Dendrogyra cylindricus), symmetrical brain (Pseudodiploria strigosa) and mountainous star (Orbicella faveolata) corals covered with lesions, a telltale sign of this devastating disease that has slammed reefs in Florida and across the Caribbean over the past 10 years. “That’s how fast it spreads,” says Lisa Carne, founder and director of Fragments of Hope. Maze coral (Meandrina meandrites) with a SCTLD lesion in Babco Chinchorro, Mexico. The telltale lesions quickly spread over corals, sloughing away the living tissue and exposing the white calcium carbonate skeleton. “It’s going and going and never stops,” says Melina Soto, Mexico coordinator with Healthy Reefs for Healthy People. Image by Raul Telcalco. Corals, like humans, sometimes get sick. But stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is different, researchers say. It afflicts an unprecedented number of species, has spread over a vast area, and kills incredibly quickly. Massive coral colonies, some hundreds of years old, can die within weeks or months, leaving reefs unrecognizable. Miraculously, Laughing Bird Caye had, until now, been spared. The tiny island sits landward from Belize’s main barrier reef, separated by deep channels, and the team had hoped against hope that this might offer some protection. “We’ve been&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/researchers-race-to-understand-new-disease-killing-caribbean-corals-at-unprecedented-rates/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>From local planting to national plan, Belize bets on mangrove recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/from-local-planting-to-national-plan-belize-bets-on-mangrove-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/from-local-planting-to-national-plan-belize-bets-on-mangrove-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2025 21:49:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/30145912/2-gales-girl-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299972</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, Latin America, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Reforestation, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GALES POINT, Belize — On a narrow stretch of shoreline across from the Gales Point cemetery, Jamal Galves and the rest of the team from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute Belize unload crates of mangrove seedlings and bamboo from the back of a pickup truck. Gales Point, a small Creole village, lies along a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GALES POINT, Belize — On a narrow stretch of shoreline across from the Gales Point cemetery, Jamal Galves and the rest of the team from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute Belize unload crates of mangrove seedlings and bamboo from the back of a pickup truck. Gales Point, a small Creole village, lies along a thin finger of land surrounded on three sides by a massive lagoon, part of Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary in central Belize. Over the past few decades, the peninsula has suffered from massive erosion, due to a combination of hurricanes, sea-level rise and mangrove clearance. At this spot, the land is only a few meters wide. “I’m from this community, I know where the mangroves were in the past, so I recognized that something had to be done,” says Galves, the program coordinator for Clearwater in Belize. Usually Galves is here working on Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus), which thrive in the lagoon’s brackish waters. On cool mornings they congregate around warm underground springs, making soft whishing noises as they stick their nostrils above the water to take a breath. Researchers from Clearwater have been monitoring these manatees for decades. But today Galves is here for mangroves. “Instead of putting in major infrastructures like a seawall, which they don&#8217;t have the financial ability to do, we&#8217;re trying to fight this issue with a green response,” he says. Across Belize, grassroots projects like this are trying to restore mangroves to prevent erosion, boost biodiversity and fisheries, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/from-local-planting-to-national-plan-belize-bets-on-mangrove-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Protection is only the beginning: Creating connection through Belize&#8217;s Maya Forest Corridor</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/wildlife-corridor-connecting-belizes-forests-needs-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/wildlife-corridor-connecting-belizes-forests-needs-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2025 17:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/19133005/Alouatta-pigra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299257</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, Latin America, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Infrastructure, Landscape Restoration, Protected Areas, Reforestation, Restoration, Roads, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BERMUDA LANDING, Belize – “About a week ago we lost a jaguar in a car collision, just over here,” says Celso Poot, director of the nonprofit Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center. He is standing at the side of the George Price Highway in Central Belize. Every few minutes a truck thunders past. “I came [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BERMUDA LANDING, Belize – “About a week ago we lost a jaguar in a car collision, just over here,” says Celso Poot, director of the nonprofit Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center. He is standing at the side of the George Price Highway in Central Belize. Every few minutes a truck thunders past. “I came out a couple days later, and there were fresh jaguar tracks here, so we know they are using this to cross this area,” he continues, gesturing to the muddy track leading from a nearby culvert into the surrounding forest. Though just two lanes, the George Price Highway is one of Belize’s major thoroughfares, linking Belize City and the coast with the tourist hub of San Ignacio in the west and Guatemala. It also bisects the Maya Forest Corridor, a narrow, forested stretch of land that conservationists say is critical for wildlife connectivity across Belize and beyond. Walking along the muddy track, Poot finds even more evidence supporting that conviction. Alongside the jaguar tracks flecked with fallen leaves, are the three-toed prints of a Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii), a globally endangered species. “This is new, fresh, &#8230; in the past week,” says Poot, bending down to examine the tracks, clearly visible in the slick grey mud. Celso Poot, director of the Belize Zoo, points to a fresh Baird’s tapir track near the George Price Highway in the Maya Forest Corridor. Image by Ruth Kamnitzer. Poot whips out his cellphone and relays the news to one of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/wildlife-corridor-connecting-belizes-forests-needs-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/wildlife-corridor-connecting-belizes-forests-needs-protection/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Belize’s natural heritage deserves even stronger conservation strategies (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/belizes-natural-heritage-deserves-even-stronger-conservation-strategies-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/belizes-natural-heritage-deserves-even-stronger-conservation-strategies-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2025 14:56:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chadwick Hagan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/31142616/Belize-panorama-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296763</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecotourism, Governance, Rainforests, Rewilding, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Belize is widely regarded as a global leader in conservation, home to vast rainforests, diverse wildlife and the second-largest barrier reef in the world. The country has implemented protected areas, community-led conservation initiatives and sustainable tourism models, yet its national parks remain under increasing pressure from deforestation, expanding agriculture and unregulated development. The draft National [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Belize is widely regarded as a global leader in conservation, home to vast rainforests, diverse wildlife and the second-largest barrier reef in the world. The country has implemented protected areas, community-led conservation initiatives and sustainable tourism models, yet its national parks remain under increasing pressure from deforestation, expanding agriculture and unregulated development. The draft National Protected Areas System (2024) offers a framework for better management, but conservation experts argue that a more cohesive, long-term national park strategy is needed to protect Belize’s biodiversity and sustain its environmental and economic future. Escalating threats Despite ongoing conservation efforts, Belize’s protected areas face increasing environmental and economic pressures. Conservation groups, researchers and local communities have raised concerns over three key threats: Expanding agriculture: Large-scale agribusiness operations, particularly for sugarcane, citrus and cattle ranching are contributing to deforestation at an alarming rate. Forest clearance leads to habitat fragmentation, soil erosion and water pollution, impacting both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Corporate tourism: The rapid growth of luxury resorts and tourism infrastructure, particularly near coastal and rainforest areas, is fueling land clearing, wastewater runoff and reef degradation. Conservationists warn that without stronger regulations, tourism could outpace sustainability efforts. Deforestation and habitat loss: Illegal logging and land clearing continue to shrink primary forests, reducing habitat availability for species such as jaguars, tapirs and macaws, while contributing to climate change through increased carbon emissions. According to the Belize Forest Department, the country lost approximately 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of forest between 2017 and 2021, with a significant portion&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/belizes-natural-heritage-deserves-even-stronger-conservation-strategies-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Caribbean reef sharks rebound in Belize with shark fishers’ help</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/caribbean-reef-sharks-rebound-in-belize-with-shark-fishers-help/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/caribbean-reef-sharks-rebound-in-belize-with-shark-fishers-help/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2025 16:43:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marco Lopez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/13143222/Caribbean_Reef_Shark_Research_-CC-Pete-Oxford-MarAlliance-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295736</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Caribbean, and Central America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rosie knows the Lighthouse Reef Atoll like the back of her fin. She calls this atoll home and is a matriarch of the thriving population of Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi) living there. Her signature scar on her dorsal fin makes her easy to identify each year during monitoring surveys conducted by MarAlliance, a U.S.-based [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rosie knows the Lighthouse Reef Atoll like the back of her fin. She calls this atoll home and is a matriarch of the thriving population of Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi) living there. Her signature scar on her dorsal fin makes her easy to identify each year during monitoring surveys conducted by MarAlliance, a U.S.-based nonprofit that is also registered in Belize. Kirah Forman-Castillo, national coordinator of the group’s Belize program, reported that fishers are observing a flourishing of sharks in the country’s waters. “As we talk to fishers, they are having the same experiences: increased numbers of sharks,” Forman-Castillo said. “They are seeing more and more; they are seeing them in the back reef and in areas where they never saw sharks before.” This constitutes a striking recovery across various shark species after a period of decline from 2009 to 2019. And it arose from a remarkable synergy among shark fishers, marine scientists and management authorities who together implemented restrictions to protect the megafauna across Belize’s three atolls, according to experts Mongabay spoke to for this story. Fishers tag a Caribbean reef shark in Belize. Image courtesy of MarAlliance. Shark fishers&#8217; acceptance The Caribbean reef shark is the most fished shark species in Belize. Globally, it’s classified as endangered due largely to overfishing and the degradation of coral reefs throughout its range. A study published in 2022 based on video footage collected at underwater stations estimated a decline in relative abundance in the reef shark population in a Belizean&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/caribbean-reef-sharks-rebound-in-belize-with-shark-fishers-help/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Agriculture, illegal ranching and roads threaten the jaguar in Mesoamerica</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/agriculture-illegal-ranching-and-roads-threaten-the-jaguar-in-mesoamerica/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/agriculture-illegal-ranching-and-roads-threaten-the-jaguar-in-mesoamerica/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2025 09:29:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/30123023/04110011_V1.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293586</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Jaguars, Protected Areas, Ranching, Roads, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jaguar have always disregarded national borders, but some threats are keeping the big cats contained within the territories that they inhabits. The spread of extensive monoculture plantations, illegal ranches, forest fires, roads and hunters are putting severe pressure on this apex predator’s habitats in Mesoamerica, the region that includes Mexico and the countries of Central [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jaguar have always disregarded national borders, but some threats are keeping the big cats contained within the territories that they inhabits. The spread of extensive monoculture plantations, illegal ranches, forest fires, roads and hunters are putting severe pressure on this apex predator’s habitats in Mesoamerica, the region that includes Mexico and the countries of Central America. To ensure that the emblematic feline survives in this area, conservationists say it’s crucial to protect a stretch of wildlife corridor that passes through northern Guatemala, crosses into Belize, and reaches up to northern Honduras. Throughout this entire region, there are key sites for safeguarding jaguars (Panthera onca). Known as Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs), they host stable jaguar populations — or could, if some prevailing pressures were eliminated — and are united by connecting corridors. “The loss of any of these areas would cut off the jaguar populations’ connectivity at a regional level,” says Roberto Salom-Pérez, Latin America director for the big cat conservation NGO Panthera. A jaguar in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Image courtesy of WCS Guatemala. For many scientists, organizations and governments, the challenge is implementing the Jaguar Corridor Initiative. The initiative aims to improve the connectivity between populations of the Americas’ largest feline throughout its entire range, which stretches from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south. Similarly, an unprecedented global agreement to save the jaguar, which began in late 2018, continues to work toward the conservation of the species before 2030, ensuring that there are 30&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/agriculture-illegal-ranching-and-roads-threaten-the-jaguar-in-mesoamerica/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>I’m boycotting COP29 because local Indigenous action matters more (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/im-boycotting-cop29-because-local-indigenous-action-matters-more-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/im-boycotting-cop29-because-local-indigenous-action-matters-more-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2024 00:23:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caroline Mair-Toby]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/14182949/IMG_7459-768x504.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290129</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Caribbean, Central America, Latin America, and Trinidad And Tobago]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Commentary, Culture, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that I worked on was in 2009. I didn’t actually go but rather volunteered for Farhana Yamin representing the Marshall Islands, doing some research. She invited me to come and her delegation would pay half of my ticket and accommodation. She said she would give [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that I worked on was in 2009. I didn’t actually go but rather volunteered for Farhana Yamin representing the Marshall Islands, doing some research. She invited me to come and her delegation would pay half of my ticket and accommodation. She said she would give me a letter to my government to be a delegate and ask them to fund the other half, or get funding for me to come. I couldn’t, because I had law exams to do toward qualifying for the London Bar at Inns of Court School of Law, now City Law School. My actual first COP was in 2011 with the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), founded by the eminent international law barrister Philippe Sands, who had advised Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) with our very own legend, Angela Cropper, back in the 1980s. I’ve been involved with each and every COP since then, from working behind the scenes as a junior barrister in London in various think tanks, where I wrote briefing papers and advised on ad hoc requests – in what we affectionately called the “war room” – to going with delegations to field ad hoc queries from Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries as a legal adviser and liaison, and heading my own Institute for Small Islands while going with my country delegation. It has been an exhilarating and intense ride. I loved the mental challenge of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/im-boycotting-cop29-because-local-indigenous-action-matters-more-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Scientists discover new hammerhead shark species — and it’s already at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2024/10/scientists-discover-new-hammerhead-shark-species-and-its-already-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2024/10/scientists-discover-new-hammerhead-shark-species-and-its-already-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Oct 2024 08:30:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/18082156/New-hammerhead-shark3-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=288970</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Belize, Brazil, Central America, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, New Discovery, Oceans, Sharks, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new-to-science hammerhead species, the shovelhead shark, has been hiding in plain sight for three centuries due to its close resemblance to a long-lost relative, the bonnethead shark. After a decade of research, a breakthrough study published Sept. 24 found that these are two distinct species, challenging the widely accepted 1758 description by biologist Carl [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new-to-science hammerhead species, the shovelhead shark, has been hiding in plain sight for three centuries due to its close resemblance to a long-lost relative, the bonnethead shark. After a decade of research, a breakthrough study published Sept. 24 found that these are two distinct species, challenging the widely accepted 1758 description by biologist Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of modern taxonomy. The shovelhead shark (Sphyrna alleni) has a pointier head and 82 vertebrae, compared to 72 for the bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo). But it was only with DNA analysis that scientists were able to confirm they were entirely different species that diverged 3.5 million to 5 million years ago. “Suddenly the species is telling you, ‘Hey, I’m different!’” study lead author Cindy Gonzalez, a marine biologist at Florida International University, told Mongabay by phone. “It was such an amazing moment, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. We were thrilled.” But the newly described, flat-yet-protruding-headed species, named after the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for his patronage of shark conservation and research, is already facing the threat of extinction. In 2019, the bonnethead shark was classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List, facing a global population reduction of up to 79%. Bonnetheads make up to 10% of fishery bycatches in some areas, meaning they’re caught by accident in fishing nets. &#8220;The populations have been collapsing over the past few decades, it’s a real crisis,&#8221; Gonzalez said. “They were overfished, and they weren’t even being targeted specifically, which makes their population&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2024/10/scientists-discover-new-hammerhead-shark-species-and-its-already-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>In Belize, flawed conservation measures threaten small-scale fishers’ livelihoods (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/in-belize-flawed-conservation-measures-threaten-small-scale-fishers-livelihoods-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/in-belize-flawed-conservation-measures-threaten-small-scale-fishers-livelihoods-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2024 14:12:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maria L.D. Palomares]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/29201004/Middle-Long-Cay-fishing-outpost-Photo-by-Deng-Palomares-768x420.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282694</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Uneven governance is wrecking the co-management model that is supposed to be the pride of Belize conservation. I’ve been conducting research on Belize’s biodiversity and fisheries on and off since 2010, but since 2023, I’ve been part of a group of researchers that make up the Belize Fisheries Project, which brings together a team of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Uneven governance is wrecking the co-management model that is supposed to be the pride of Belize conservation. I’ve been conducting research on Belize’s biodiversity and fisheries on and off since 2010, but since 2023, I’ve been part of a group of researchers that make up the Belize Fisheries Project, which brings together a team of local and international experts in healthy reefs and small-scale fisheries to evaluate new and existing information and facilitate discussions about the current status and management of fisheries in the Central American country. As part of this project, I traveled to Belize in April 2024, and among the different workshops and activities we were carrying out, we decided to visit the Middle Long Cay, east of the mainland and just at the edge of the Turneffe Atoll, the largest in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. With an overcast sky and strong winds, we travelled southeast from Belize City navigating light blue-greenish, mostly shallow waters. An hour into our choppy ride, we passed by the Port Coral development on Stake Bank Cay, whose construction demanded the removal of almost nine hectares of mangrove forest to give way to a resort that can accommodate large cruise vessels. It remains unfinished, and it seems that the development halted because of lack of investors. A school of snapper, a commercially important fish on the Mesoamerican Reef. Photo by Francesca Diaco / Healthy Reefs Initiative. The thousand-year-old mangrove forest, however, was changed forever. The decimation of mangrove forests is not unique&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/in-belize-flawed-conservation-measures-threaten-small-scale-fishers-livelihoods-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Freeing trees of their liana load can boost carbon sequestration in tropical forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/freeing-trees-of-their-liana-load-can-boost-carbon-sequestration-in-tropical-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/freeing-trees-of-their-liana-load-can-boost-carbon-sequestration-in-tropical-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Feb 2024 22:25:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Hillsdon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/01220207/at_Yeoor_Hills_4163756350-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278479</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Belize, Central America, Gabon, Indonesia, South America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Warming, Green, Logging, Mitigation, Orangutans, Primates, Rainforests, Research, Secondary Forests, Sustainable Forest Management, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The liana is an opportunistic plant, a vine that, in the right conditions, can smother a tree as it hitches a ride up to the top of the forest canopy. It’s estimated that 250 million hectares of managed forest are affected by rampant liana growth, as the plant thrives where the forest floor has been [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The liana is an opportunistic plant, a vine that, in the right conditions, can smother a tree as it hitches a ride up to the top of the forest canopy. It’s estimated that 250 million hectares of managed forest are affected by rampant liana growth, as the plant thrives where the forest floor has been disturbed by clearing activities like logging, as well as natural events such as wildfires and hurricanes. &#8220;Liana&#8221; is a catch-all name for long, woody vining plants, many species of which are native to tropical forests around the world. While the negative effects of lianas on tree growth have been known for some time, a study published in 2023 in the journal Forest Ecology and Management has revealed the carbon benefits of stripping back these woody vines and allowing the trees to grow unencumbered. The study found that in selectively logged forests, where certain tree species are commercially cut and the rest left standing as an alternative to clear-cut felling, freeing just five trees per hectare of their liana load across the 250 million hectares of degraded managed land could remove 800 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere over 30 years — averaging 3.2 tons of CO2 removed per hectare — as well as boosting sustainable timber production. And all at a cost of just $1.50 per hectare. The research is based on managed forests that have previously been disturbed, explains Ethan Belair, a natural climate solutions forester at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and one&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/freeing-trees-of-their-liana-load-can-boost-carbon-sequestration-in-tropical-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>U.N. carbon trading scheme holds promise and peril for tropical forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/u-n-carbon-trading-scheme-holds-promise-and-peril-for-tropical-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/u-n-carbon-trading-scheme-holds-promise-and-peril-for-tropical-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Nov 2023 12:08:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Sax]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/24190027/suriname_2819-16X9-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275834</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, Honduras, Latin America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Credits, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Conservation, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, Rainforests, Redd, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Suriname’s recently announced plans to sell carbon credits under the Paris Agreement&#8217;s emissions trading system have been met with both applause and skepticism by climate experts. The South American country will rely on its massive forests for the credits, which it intends to trade as so-called internationally transferable mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) under a system that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Suriname’s recently announced plans to sell carbon credits under the Paris Agreement&#8217;s emissions trading system have been met with both applause and skepticism by climate experts. The South American country will rely on its massive forests for the credits, which it intends to trade as so-called internationally transferable mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) under a system that has yet to be finalized. But while ITMOs are meant to help boost climate change mitigation and also be a win-win for the countries involved, some experts worry they could foster yet another market for “hot air.” Forests absorb nearly a third of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and lock away twice as much carbon as is currently accessible across all coal, oil and gas reserves. As the world’s biggest terrestrial carbon sinks, forests play a critical part in limiting global warming to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, alongside efforts to cut CO2 emissions. About 93% of Suriname is covered by forests — part of what makes it one of just a few dozen carbon-negative nations, according to data from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This means the country absorbs more carbon than it emits. Like many forested nations in the Global South, Suriname faces challenges accessing climate finance that it says would allow it to continue being a carbon sink and help reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Suriname plans to trade its REDD+ results as ITMOs, but experts worry about the impact on carbon trading accuracy. Image by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/u-n-carbon-trading-scheme-holds-promise-and-peril-for-tropical-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Plan to bring Mennonite farmers to Suriname sparks deforestation fears</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/plan-to-bring-mennonite-farmers-to-suriname-sparks-deforestation-fears/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/plan-to-bring-mennonite-farmers-to-suriname-sparks-deforestation-fears/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2023 08:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/06182935/Feature-option-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274007</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[The Future of Suriname’s Rainforests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Belize, Bolivia, Latin America, Mexico, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Migration, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Foreign land developers have spent the past several years working to bring Mennonite farming communities from across Latin America to Suriname with the plan of starting a series of agriculture projects — a major threat to conservation efforts in the country’s part of the Amazon Rainforest, environmentalists say. Investors from Argentina and the Netherlands launched [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Foreign land developers have spent the past several years working to bring Mennonite farming communities from across Latin America to Suriname with the plan of starting a series of agriculture projects — a major threat to conservation efforts in the country’s part of the Amazon Rainforest, environmentalists say. Investors from Argentina and the Netherlands launched a campaign to bring Mennonite farmers to Suriname from Belize, Mexico and Bolivia, where members of the religiously conservative group have already faced criticism for clearing thousands of hectares of forest. The company behind the project is called Terra Invest Suriname &amp; Guyana, and advertises itself as an expert in large-scale agriculture projects for soy, maize, sorghum and wheat. Since its founding in 2021, the company has hosted Mennonite communities in Suriname, visited properties for potential purchase, and initiated talks with the government. “This is serious business,” said Ben D’Leon​, a member of the NGO Amazon Conservation Team, Suriname. “They’re possibly aiming to use pristine forest to make their agricultural lands.” Terra Invest says it aims to secure a total of 30,000 hectares (about 74,000 acres) for approximately 1,000 Mennonite families, each responsible for farming between 30 and 50 hectares (74-124 acres). Although Terra Invest is in talks with the government, it told Mongabay that a land purchase is still in the early stages and “very hypothetical.” So far, Suriname’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has greenlit a pilot project that allows 50 Mennonite families to travel to the country and work in the agricultural sector&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/plan-to-bring-mennonite-farmers-to-suriname-sparks-deforestation-fears/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Restoring degraded forests may be key for climate, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/restoring-degraded-forests-may-be-key-for-climate-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/restoring-degraded-forests-may-be-key-for-climate-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2023 15:41:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/04151943/Pesalat-Reforestation-Project-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, Costa Rica, Global, Guatemala, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Ecosystems, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Logging, Mapping, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainable Forest Management, Timber, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new global analysis focuses on the climate benefits of restoring degraded forest areas instead of replanting trees in deforested areas. Researchers mapped forests worldwide to find areas that could support more trees and wildlife if restored. The study reveals that degraded forests, which retain 50-80% of their potential tree density, cover more than 1.5 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new global analysis focuses on the climate benefits of restoring degraded forest areas instead of replanting trees in deforested areas. Researchers mapped forests worldwide to find areas that could support more trees and wildlife if restored. The study reveals that degraded forests, which retain 50-80% of their potential tree density, cover more than 1.5 billion hectares (3.7 billion acres) worldwide. Focusing restoration efforts in these damaged forest ecosystems may deliver rapid gains for carbon storage and wildlife habitat connectivity. Degraded forests are those with reduced canopy cover, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, altered water cycles, heightened susceptibility to pests and diseases and diminished overall health and functionality. Causes range from unsustainable logging and shifting cultivation to wildfires, overgrazing and climate change impacts. Forest restoration potential by intervention type. Areas with reforestation potential are mapped together with areas of degraded forest with potential for recovery. Figure from Rayden et al 2023. Degraded forests are cheaper and easier to restore than completely cleared lands, the authors say, and allowing them to regrow naturally (via natural or assisted natural regeneration) can rapidly recapture lost carbon. The authors argue that considering degraded forests significantly expands the area that could be targeted by restoration programs and would better reflect the full range of opportunities to pull carbon from the air into the plant biomass and soil of the forest. The study combined remote sensing data on current tree cover with models of forest biomass potential. This allowed the researchers to map degraded forests globally that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/restoring-degraded-forests-may-be-key-for-climate-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study shows how to maximize mangroves as climate and community solution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/study-shows-how-to-maximize-mangroves-as-climate-and-community-solution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/study-shows-how-to-maximize-mangroves-as-climate-and-community-solution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Aug 2023 13:57:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sílvia Lisboa and Maurício Brum]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/09030336/raja-ampat_230712-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271915</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Mangroves, Nature-based climate solutions, Politics, Protected Areas, Research, Restoration, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mangroves’ capacity to store carbon — up to five times more than upland tropical forests — makes them a powerful natural solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change. But according to a recent study that argues carbon storage and sequestration via mangroves can be both a climate solution and an economic boon, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mangroves’ capacity to store carbon — up to five times more than upland tropical forests — makes them a powerful natural solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change. But according to a recent study that argues carbon storage and sequestration via mangroves can be both a climate solution and an economic boon, few countries have accounted for this type of nature-based solution when making their emissions reduction pledges, or nationally determined contributions (NDCs), to the Paris climate agreement. The study, published in Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution, focused on Belize and quantified how much carbon its mangroves capture and store, while also looking where mangrove conservation needs to be prioritized so that both climate and local economic goals can be met. Belize is renowned for its marine resource management and conservation. The Natural Capital Project, based at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, which conducted the new research, has been collaborating with WWF Belize and the Belize government since 2010, helping the country use a science-driven approach to incorporate the benefits of different ecosystems into its sustainable development planning. “In 2020, we identified the opportunity to inform the Belize revised national contributions under the Paris climate change agreement through our partnership,” said study co-author Jade Delevaux, a life science researcher with the marine team at the Natural Capital Project. “With support from The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF, Belize formed the National Blue Carbon Working Group to help guide updates to Belize’s NDCs to include evidence-based targets&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/study-shows-how-to-maximize-mangroves-as-climate-and-community-solution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Murdered Belize environmentalist helped boost marine conservation through technology</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/murdered-belize-environmentalist-helped-boost-marine-conservation-through-technology/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/murdered-belize-environmentalist-helped-boost-marine-conservation-through-technology/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2023 22:16:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/10221408/Feature-2-768x450.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264506</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Caribbean, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Ecosystems, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Monitoring, Murdered Activists, Protected Areas, Violence, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The conservation community is mourning after an environmentalist in Belize was killed in his home while celebrating New Year’s Eve. Jon Ramnarace, who worked on protected area patrol and marine conservation technology, was shot and killed alongside his brother David in the city of Belmopan on December 31. Their spouses were also shot but remain [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The conservation community is mourning after an environmentalist in Belize was killed in his home while celebrating New Year’s Eve. Jon Ramnarace, who worked on protected area patrol and marine conservation technology, was shot and killed alongside his brother David in the city of Belmopan on December 31. Their spouses were also shot but remain in critical condition, according to local reports. Jon Ramnarace was 38. “Jon was very personable and had immediately become an asset to our team,” the Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA), where he worked, said in a statement. “He was funny, witty and solutions-oriented … His impact on the organization and the TASA team was significant. It is surely hard to process the untimely death of such a vibrant and dedicated conservation warrior.” The main suspect, police corporal Elmer Nah, 39, was taken into custody the first week of January and charged with two counts of murder and attempted murder, deadly means of harm and dangerous harm. Nah was previously under internal investigation by the police for his alleged involvement in an illegal drug plane that was captured by authorities in November 2021. Although Nah has been out of service since that case, his ultimate acquittal led to public outcry about investigations into law enforcement, one reason why officials are reportedly considering using a special prosecutor for the upcoming murder trial. A date for the trial is pending. The motive for the killing has not yet been made public. Ramnarace (left) at the Tikal Summit hosted&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/murdered-belize-environmentalist-helped-boost-marine-conservation-through-technology/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Belize, a proposed limestone mine threatens conservation legacy (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/in-belize-a-proposed-limestone-mine-threatens-conservation-legacy-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/in-belize-a-proposed-limestone-mine-threatens-conservation-legacy-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2022 19:34:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[James Krupa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/28180451/Sugar-Valley-Hill-1-e1664388430186-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260709</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Commentary, Community Development, Conservation, Ecotourism, Green, Mining, Sustainable Development, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Belize is an amazing country where warm, humid jungles, cool tropical rivers, mangrove forests, and wildlife abound. I am an ecologist drawn to Belize as a special place where I can escape into deep wilderness. To walk a jungle trail used by jaguars and tapirs while raucous flocks of parrots angrily scold the world as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Belize is an amazing country where warm, humid jungles, cool tropical rivers, mangrove forests, and wildlife abound. I am an ecologist drawn to Belize as a special place where I can escape into deep wilderness. To walk a jungle trail used by jaguars and tapirs while raucous flocks of parrots angrily scold the world as they storm overhead exhilarates me. I relish my time in Belize. Thus, I am excited by Belize’s growing conservation efforts and push towards developing a sustainable ecotourism economy. Belize is making great strides setting aside tracts of land for national parks, wildlife refuges, and preserves. In addition, privately-owned preserves are on the rise. Recent efforts include expanding the Maya Forest Corridor as an essential part of the Jaguar Corridor Initiative, which is establishing protected habitat from northern Mexico to Brazil. This year, Belize signed a Blue Bond Agreement; the first of its kind. In this agreement, developed by The Nature Conservancy, Belize agreed to a financial transaction enabling a $364 million reduction in debt burden and in so doing generating a potential $180 million for marine conservation including protection of 30% of Belize’s coastal waters. An environmentally sensitive region south of Belize City is where a series of brackish water lagoons are less than a mile inland from the Caribbean Sea. Some of these lagoons are within the Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary comprised of 22 terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. One of the purposes of the sanctuary is to protect the endangered Antillean manatee and two&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/in-belize-a-proposed-limestone-mine-threatens-conservation-legacy-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sharing a marine reserve with fishers: Q&#038;A with Belize Fisheries’ Adriel Castañeda</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/sharing-a-marine-reserve-with-fishers-qa-with-belize-fisheries-adriel-castaneda/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/sharing-a-marine-reserve-with-fishers-qa-with-belize-fisheries-adriel-castaneda/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2022 17:15:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/14150502/Feature-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254792</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Glover’s Reef, part of the Belize Barrier Reef, is one of only four atolls in the Western Hemisphere. The rare, ring-shaped island of coral surrounds a lagoon 45 kilometers (28 miles) off the Belize coast, and takes up 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres). The reef is home to dozens of species of sharks, including the endangered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Glover’s Reef, part of the Belize Barrier Reef, is one of only four atolls in the Western Hemisphere. The rare, ring-shaped island of coral surrounds a lagoon 45 kilometers (28 miles) off the Belize coast, and takes up 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres). The reef is home to dozens of species of sharks, including the endangered Cuban night shark (Carcharhinus signatus) and Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi), as well as numerous stingrays and other fish. The abundance of wildlife has traditionally attracted fishermen to the spot, leading officials to find a way to protect the ecosystem while upholding the customs of local communities. In 1993, Glover’s Reef was named a national marine protected area. A few years later, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reserve is broken down into different conservation zones, which allow residents to fish near some parts of the reef. Earlier this year, Mongabay reported that some sharks, most notably the Caribbean reef shark, had been on the decline over the past decade, possibly due to legal fishing on the edges of the protected area. There has also been some illegal activity, often at night when regulations are harder to enforce. “Most of it is encroachment into the conservation zone,” Kenneth Gale, operations manager for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Glover&#8217;s Reef Research Station, told Mongabay. “Fishing out of season of products or undersized products. We also see people fishing without fisher folk licenses. So there is actually a wide array of infractions that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/sharing-a-marine-reserve-with-fishers-qa-with-belize-fisheries-adriel-castaneda/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Belize shows how fishers and researchers can collaborate to protect sharks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/belize-shows-how-fishers-and-researchers-can-collaborate-to-protect-sharks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/belize-shows-how-fishers-and-researchers-can-collaborate-to-protect-sharks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Feb 2022 15:48:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/17154016/Andy-Mann-2_Caribbean-reef-shark-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252838</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When marine ecologist Katie Flowers first started conducting research at Glovers Reef Marine Reserve, a marine protected area (MPA) in Belize, she found a thriving population of Caribbean reef sharks. Then, about six years ago, shark numbers started to plummet across the MPA. “We weren&#8217;t exactly expecting them to decline,” Flowers of Florida International University [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[When marine ecologist Katie Flowers first started conducting research at Glovers Reef Marine Reserve, a marine protected area (MPA) in Belize, she found a thriving population of Caribbean reef sharks. Then, about six years ago, shark numbers started to plummet across the MPA. “We weren&#8217;t exactly expecting them to decline,” Flowers of Florida International University told Mongabay. “In fact, this was a study site for my Ph.D. [that] I was using as an allocation where there were a lot of sharks.” In a new paper, Flowers and colleagues suggest that Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi) at Glovers Reef Marine Reserve — an MPA of 35,067 hectares (86,652 acres) — experienced a decline during a study period that spanned from 2009 to 2019. The researchers theorized that this had something to do with the legal shark fishing that had been permitted on the edges of the MPA since 2016. “We know that the sharks are using the edge [of the MPA],” Flowers said. “They don&#8217;t really care about the boundaries of the MPA. They&#8217;re moving in and out.” Even before the paper was published, study co-author and shark expert Demian Chapman and colleagues started sharing data with the Belize Fisheries Department to illustrate the potential fishing issue. Glovers Reef in Belize. Image by Katie Flowers. Beverley Wade, who once worked as an administrator for the Belize Fisheries Department but is now the director of fisheries, told Mongabay the information was “well received” by both the government and the fishing community. She brought the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/belize-shows-how-fishers-and-researchers-can-collaborate-to-protect-sharks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Huge wildlife corridor in Belize sees progress, boosting hope for jaguars and more (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/huge-wildlife-corridor-in-belize-sees-progress-boosting-hope-for-jaguars-and-more-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/huge-wildlife-corridor-in-belize-sees-progress-boosting-hope-for-jaguars-and-more-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2021 17:05:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[James Krupa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/24095212/Jaguars-in-Belize-1_Credit-Panthera_UB-ERI_BAS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245228</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Jaguars, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I was quite thrilled reading Jut Wynne’s commentary on the Maya Forest Corridor (MFC) published by Mongabay on May 24th of this year. Jut described the critical importance of the MFC being the missing link connecting the Belize Maya Forest to the Maya Mountain Massif. Being an ecologist and environmentalist, I find any news of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I was quite thrilled reading Jut Wynne’s commentary on the Maya Forest Corridor (MFC) published by Mongabay on May 24th of this year. Jut described the critical importance of the MFC being the missing link connecting the Belize Maya Forest to the Maya Mountain Massif. Being an ecologist and environmentalist, I find any news of efforts to establish wildlife corridors very exciting. I so hope for this project’s success. The Maya Forest Corridor seems to be an example where success is most probable, but challenges remain. My excitement was fueled because I was on my way to Belize in June. I had the good fortune to tag along with University of Kentucky biology faculty Dr. Emily Croteau’s Study Abroad course on conservation biology and field techniques she was teaching in Belize. Emily has spent much time in Belize and has a deep passion for cats, especially big cats. After years of planning, Emily’s maiden voyage to teach her Belize course set sail when the University of Kentucky decided in April that Belize’s efforts to battle COVID-19 was successful enough for the course to happen. It is only one of four UK Study Abroad courses given a green light this summer. The remaining 21 courses were canceled because many countries remain deep in the battle with this pandemic thus deemed unsafe. A jaguar, image by Eduardo Merille via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) On 13 June, eight very fortunate students, Emily, and I landed in Belize City to begin our adventure. We&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/huge-wildlife-corridor-in-belize-sees-progress-boosting-hope-for-jaguars-and-more-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/huge-wildlife-corridor-in-belize-sees-progress-boosting-hope-for-jaguars-and-more-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Belize&#8217;s Maya Forest Corridor a &#8216;missing link&#8217; to giant rainforest reserve (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/belizes-maya-forest-corridor-a-missing-link-to-giant-rainforest-preserve-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/belizes-maya-forest-corridor-a-missing-link-to-giant-rainforest-preserve-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 May 2021 16:39:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jut Wynne]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/21213945/Maya-Corridor-Belize-drone-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=242923</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, Latin America, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, National Parks, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Belize sits on the cusp of protecting the key piece of the largest rainforest preserve north of the Amazon. In April 2021, the Nature Conservancy and a consortium of conservation organizations purchased 368.75 mi2 in northwestern extent of the country, which is now the Belize Maya Forest. This area connects protected areas in Belize and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Belize sits on the cusp of protecting the key piece of the largest rainforest preserve north of the Amazon. In April 2021, the Nature Conservancy and a consortium of conservation organizations purchased 368.75 mi2 in northwestern extent of the country, which is now the Belize Maya Forest. This area connects protected areas in Belize and adjacent protected areas of La Selva Maya in Guatemala and Mexico. In southern Belize, the Maya Mountains Massif contains a network of protected areas. In between lay ~124 mi2 of uncertainty, which conservationists hope will soon become the Maya Forest Corridor (MFC). Unfortunately, Belize, like many other places reliant principally on tourism, has been thrust into economic hardships due to pandemic-driven travel restrictions. As a result, the Belizean government has to make difficult choices that would have been quotidian a little over a year ago. Decisions like approving protected areas with associated tax deferments were routinely made. Today, government officials are forced to consider other unsustainable land use alternatives that come with a guaranteed tax revenue stream. With nearly 40% of its lands under protection, Belize already contributes significantly to the IUCN’s post-2020 biodiversity framework of preserving 30% of the planet by 2030. According to Elma Kay, Science Director of the Environmental Research Institute, University of Belize (ERI), “For a tiny country with a tiny population to have all this land under protection is truly an accomplishment.” See Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of the MFC when it was originally announced here. Map depicting the extent of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/belizes-maya-forest-corridor-a-missing-link-to-giant-rainforest-preserve-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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