2006 Press Releases

Belize Wins Three National Marine Sanctuary Foundation WW2BW Grants (September 13, 2006)

Belize City, Belize – The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) has announced that Belize has won three of the eleven White Water to Blue Water (WW2BW) Partnership Initiative grants, which it awards to environmental organizations dedicated to building sustainable development processes and improving environmental impacts in the Gulf of Mexico and The Wider Caribbean.  The total amount for Belize is US $69,981.00.

The WW2BW grant program builds partnerships to improve coastal and marine ecosystem-based management, integrated watershed management, sustainable tourism, and environmentally sound marine transportation. This effort was developed as a result of the framework set up during the WW2BW Partnership Conference in 2004 to encourage groups to address priority issues with a common goal and strategy. Funding for this effort is made available through a grant from the U.S. Department of State Third Border Initiative, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) Initiative Economic Support Funds.

The three conservation organizations that received grants for work to be done in Belize are:

• EcoLogic Development Fund, Cambridge, MA: $25,000 for the Conservation tourism by indigenous communities in the Sarstoon Temash Region of Belize project that will reduce pressure on the National Park in Belize by putting in place the necessary physical and social infrastructure to make eco/ethno-tourism a reality for buffer zone communities and to improve the health of the population which is dependent on clean drinking water and sufficient food cultivation.

• Coral Reef Alliance, San Francisco, CA: $23,331 for The Coral Reef Sustainable Destination (CRSD) Program to provide customized training and technical assistance to help San Pedro, Belize manage and conserve coral reef protected areas, institutionalize environmental best business practices and to facilitate local conservation projects.

• Wildlife Trust, St. Petersburg, FL: $21,650, for the Countering emerging watercraft-related manatee deaths in Belize project to study the causes of manatee mortality, note manatee population distribution and habitat usage and provide information for the government of Belize to develop and implement management actions at the community and national level to ensure fewer manatee deaths by watercraft.

For additional information on these awards, please contact Acting Economic and Political Section Chief Stacie R. Hankins at tel: 227-7161, ext. 205.