It is after a wait of about nine long years that UNESCO has given a clean chit to the Belize Barrier Reef. Belize Barrier Reef is no longer a part of UNESCO’s endangered world heritage sites. This glory is being credited to the stringent preservation efforts of the Central American Country. The visionary steps of the Central American Country have succeeded in pulling out Belize Barrier Reef from the endangered sites category.
This Belize Barrier Reef ranks second largest reef in the world. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef tops the table of world’s largest reefs. Belize Barrier Reef homes threatened species. To list a few are marine turtles, American marine crocodile, and manatees.
1996 was the year when Belize Barrier Reef marked its presence in the world heritage sites. But soon in the year 2009, it was listed in the endangered category.
After Belize Barrier Reef’s entry into the endangered category, UNESCO urged Belize to safeguard the place. Charles Darwin describes Belize Barrier Reef as “The Most Remarkable Reefs in West Indies.”
In the year 2012, Environmentalist organized an informal referendum. Out of the total participants, about ninety-six percent voted against the offshore oil activity.
In December 2017, a landmark moratorium on oil exploration in Belizean waters was passed by the lawmakers. Currently, Belizean is one of those handful countries of the world with such legislation.
UNESCO conducted a meeting this Monday in Bahrain. At the meet, UNESCO praised Belize’s visionary plant to manage coastline effectively. UNESCO highlights, “the level of conservation we hoped for has been achieved.”