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Oceana standing guard with Belizeans over the Belize Barrier Reef

EditorialOceana standing guard with Belizeans over the Belize Barrier Reef

In 2012, thousands of Belizeans, without the prompting of the major political parties, turned up at polling stations across the country to vote in a “People’s Referendum”, after the government’s Geology and Petroleum Department released a map which showed that we were about to embark on major oil exploration offshore, even in national parks. 96% of the individuals who voted in the referendum, which was organized by Oceana and its vice-president in Belize, Ms. Audrey Matura, overwhelmingly, resoundingly, said no, we should not drill for oil in or near to our reef.

Oceana had lobbied for an official referendum, and after that had failed, the organization turned to the “People’s Referendum” to send the message to government. Having seen the pollution caused by oil extraction in other parts of the world, a graphic example being the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010 which killed and injured a number of people and leaked over 200 million gallons of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico, Belizeans balked when the government announced its intentions to aggressively explore for oil offshore.

The Belize Barrier Reef, which is the largest section of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, had been designated a World Heritage Site in 1996 by UNESCO, but it had been placed on the list of endangered World Heritage Sites in 2009, “due to the destruction of mangroves and marine ecosystems, offshore oil extraction, and the development of non-sustainable building projects.” After the people’s declaration against drilling, and the government’s subsequent acquiescence to a moratorium on oil exploration in our marine areas in 2017, in 2018 our World Heritage Site status was restored in full by UNESCO.

Belizeans have also seen countries like ours exploited while getting little reward. Oil powers the big engines that generate electricity and the ships/planes/ trains that travel around the world, and oil is the energy source for luxury vehicles. Oil has made countries and corporations and individuals who control it mighty rich. But it hasn’t worked out that well for all. Most of the wealth flows back to the powerful countries, and many weaker countries haven’t been better off for finding it. There are a few in the less powerful countries who have become wealthy, but for the most part “our” share has been a little “trickle down” and a whole lot of pollution.

Companies that explore for oil haven’t reported that much success on our land. There have been numerous oil finds in Belize, but only one has been reported as being commercial: the one at Spanish Lookout. Belizeans at Spanish Lookout have received royalties from the wells drilled there. Belizeans in Toledo West also expect to collect royalties if oil is found in that district, even though their lands are held communally, not privately.

The oil find at Spanish Lookout was a savior because our “luck” came at a time when our citrus and shrimp industries were in near collapse after serious disease infestations. Having had little success on land thus far, and excited over the oil find at Spanish Lookout, the government didn’t give up readily after the “People’s Referendum” declared that exploration was off limits when it came to the sea. In fact, some oil exploration in the sea had been carried out when we were a colony, but with the knowledge of hindsight, the independent Belize had become wary.

In 2016 the GOB announced that it would be participating with the US and Mexican governments in a deep-sea survey which included our marine area outside of the Belize Barrier Reef. This announcement wasn’t greeted favorably. Our marine conservation organizations rallied against this action, and were successful in getting the government to back off from conducting seismic testing in our waters. Subsequent to this, the GOB, in 2017, made the historic announcement that it was introducing legislation to place an indefinite moratorium on offshore oil exploration/extraction in our marine territory.

Fast forward to 2022, and the new GOB has floated the idea of conducting seismic testing in our waters, to, the Prime Minister said, find out what we have under the sea. In a recent interview the PM said “if we get to the point where there could be potentially oil in our exclusive economic zone, again not by the Barrier Reef, then we can take that and leverage it…go to the other countries or to these international NGOs and say ‘okay, we will leave it there but pay us for it so that we can use that money’”.

This GOB interest in just finding out what lies under the sea in our marine areas set off alarm bells in the head of present Oceana Vice President in Belize, Ms. Janelle Chanona. She told the press that the only reason she knows about for seismic studies is if you want to explore for oil, and that she hasn’t seen anyone create a weapon and not use it.

Preemptively, Oceana Belize launched a signature-collecting drive to ensure that a referendum mechanism is in place for Belizeans to decide on all offshore oil-related matters. The GOB responded via a press release in which it stated that Oceana’s actions are regrettable, and that GOB hadn’t entered into any agreements for seismic studies offshore. The PM followed that up with a letter to the president of the board of directors of Oceana, in which he declared the signature-collecting drive to be wholly unnecessary. PM Briceño said that in two years his government had done more for marine conservation than any other administration, that his government supported the law that prohibits offshore oil exploration, and that any change to that could only come by way of a referendum.

Seismic testing could be more a slippery slope than firm ground. It is mature to want to know, but what happens afterward? If there isn’t anything valuable in our seabed, we lose leverage, and if we have massive reserves of oil and gas in our seabed, sure we could leverage that to the conservationists around the world, but how do we stop a government from getting excited and killing the goose, the Belize Barrier Reef, to get the golden egg?

The Belize Barrier Reef is a living thing of awesome beauty, an underwater forest rich with colors and life. Our reef system has yielded wealth for our people for generations. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that 40% of our people depend on our coastal ecosystems for their livelihood, and that combined, the support our reef provides “for commercial fisheries, tourism, and protection from erosion and storm surges – are worth up to US$559 million per year.” Although oil exploration/extraction wouldn’t be likely to destroy all that, it would certainly come with a cost, and a spill could be disastrous.

The Belize Barrier Reef is sacred turf. The National Environmental Appraisal Committee just voted against a port project in Belize City, twice, for fear that its dredging operations would damage the reef.

There are marine areas in other parts of the world that are nearly barren. Like salt marshes, swamps, and extremely heavy clays, they yield little wealth in the form of food and beauty. We wouldn’t endanger the rich lands in Chunox, San Carlos, the Stann Creek Valley, and other parts of our country. For Belize, in regard to oil exploration/extraction in the sea, how do you do it/contemplate it when you are blessed with the Belize Barrier Reef?

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