The Placencia community during the Placencia Art Festival held over this past weekend, came together to take a stand against offshore oil exploration in Belize’s waters, adding 300 more voices to the thousands of voices from the residents of San Pedro and Caye Caulker and other areas of the country in demanding that the government adopt a policy of closing Belizean waters and the Barrier Reef from offshore oil exploration and drilling.
Residents wrote and signed petitions addressed to the Belize Tourism Board, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry responsible for Fisheries and Climate Change, expressing their desire to see Belize’s marine resources protected for current and future generations of Belizeans.
Along the Belizean coast, nearly 190,000 Belizeans rely on healthy marine ecosystems, mainly through fishing, tourism and recreation. As of today, over 30,000 Belizeans have and continue to say “No” to offshore oil exploration and drilling in Belize.
The Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage takes this opportunity to acknowledge and applaud the efforts of these communities to protect Belize’s marine resources from the threat of offshore oil. The Coalition stands with these communities and groups protecting our natural heritage.
