During my six years with UNESCO’s World Heritage Marine Programme, I have had the privilege of visiting some of the world’s most beloved ocean places, including Cabo Pulmo, Lagoons of New Caledonia, Belize Barrier Reef, Coiba National Park, Tubbataha Reefs, and the Great Barrier Reef. Field visits are integral to our work, as we are constantly trying to understand the health of these rare places, and forge solutions with local and national governments.

I have had the opportunity to explore thriving coral reefs, treasure troves full of life and breathtaking beauty and color — unlike anything else I’ve experienced. But like many of us, I have also watched with growing unease how the devastating heat wave that gripped the world’s oceans over the past three years wrought havoc in 21 out of the 29 globally-significant reefs on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Read more

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in a report this week, called out the government of Belize for its failure to implement legislation drafted to protect the Belize Barrier Reef from the threat of offshore oil drilling and damaging coastal construction.

WWF joins other non-government organizations including Oceana in calling on government to deliver on a promise it made in 2015. The Barrow administration committed to UNESCO that the necessary measures to ensure the reef’s protection would be implemented by December 2016.

“Seven months on, Belize has not delivered on its promise to protect the Belize Barrier Reef. Instead this remarkable ecosystem – vital to both wildlife and the country’s economy – remains under threat. We urge Belize’s government to act immediately to safeguard the reef for future generations,”said Nadia Bood, Mesoamerican Reef Scientist at WWF in Belize.

Read more

Belmopan, Belize, 28 June 2017 – The Belizean government has failed to implement promised protections for the Belize Barrier Reef World Heritage site, according to a WWF assessment published today, leaving the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere under threat from offshore oil drilling and damaging coastal construction. Seismic testing for oil was attempted just one kilometre from the World Heritage site as recently as October 2016.

Coming less than a week before the 41^st session of the World Heritage Committee begins in Krakow, WWF, as part of the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage, assessed progress on a number of protections identified by UNESCO as essential to the reef’s long-term survival. The Belizean government committed to UNESCO in 2015 that the necessary measures to ensure the reef’s protection would be implemented by December 2016.

Read more

It is 15 years ago and still I remember it as if it had been this morning. My first dive in the ocean – a submersion into a fairy-tale world of flabbergasting colours, corals of all shapes and forms, fish I hadn’t even found in the Aquarium and that time-less beauty of weightlessness. In total connection with my breath, I have blissfully floated through many a world’s best diving sites since, from shallow to up to 30 metres. Let me share some of my favourites with you.

No diving bucket list would be complete without the famous great blue hole in Central America’s Belize. The circular 300 metres wide and 125 metres deep submarine sinkhole is part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is outlined by coral reef and inhabited by Caribbean Reef Sharks and the occasional Hammerhead.

Read more

Hey Castaways, if you loving diving and love Belize, then you’re going to enjoy this guest post by Joe Black. Cheers!

I’m Joe, I run Nature Rated. I love spending time in the outdoors. Whenever daily life gets me down I head to the nearest lake or river with my kayak and my camera and I spend time recharging my batteries. I hope you’ll love my no fluff to the point reviews and that they’ll help you choose the right gear for your next adventure!

It is one thing to visit and dive in the Belize Barrier Reef. It’s another to understand what makes this destination one of the Great Wonders of the World. Before you put on your snorkel gear, test your knowledge and see how many of the facts below you already know.

Read more

They were one of the star turns in BBC’s epic Planet Earth 2 – the tiny hawksbill turtles saved from near certain death as they struggled to find their way to sea. Their odds of surviving from hatchling to fully grown adult are minuscule, and only one out of a thousand is expected to survive, the programme explained.

One place where the threatened hawksbill turtles are thriving however, is in the protected waters of Glover’s Reef Atoll off the coast of Belize. Conservation efforts there in recent years are proving incredibly successful with the most recent count in the coral reefs finding more than 1000 juveniles living there.

Glover’s Reef – named after two infamous pirate brothers – is one of the world’s great barrier reef systems and is a UNESCO world heritage site. The area is also important to Belize’s fishing economy and turtle numbers had been declining until a major conservation project began.

Read more

December marks the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of seven protected areas along Belize’s barrier reef. Local celebrations for these coral atolls, mangrove forests and vibrant underwater landscapes are tinged with concern: These unique places face many manmade threats, and have been listed as ‘World Heritage in Danger’ since 2009. Now, armed with new legislation, sustainable tourism ventures — and in some cases, scuba gear — Belizeans are fighting to safeguard their reef for the long haul.

The Belizean reef, which stretches into neighboring Mexico and Honduras, is over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from tip to tip — making it the world’s longest reef after the Great Barrier Reef. But its size hasn’t shielded it from human harms.

In 2009, the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage in Danger.

Read more

Mud. It may not seem terribly exciting, and most of us even go out of our way to avoid it. But mud is actually fascinating stuff. Why? Well, for one, studying mud can help us better understand various natural processes and phenomena. For example, the sediment in a layer of mud can shed light on the origin of the water that carried it. Mud from the sea floor can teach us about ocean acidification. And mud can even help scientists figure out when and where hurricanes struck in the past, long before humans were around to keep track of such things. In a sense, mud keeps a journal of events that happen on earth, but it’s up to us to decipher those “memories.”

Read more

Keriann O’Riordan adds diving the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize to her bucket list.

Imagine yourself face to face with a Caribbean reef shark, lurking along the depths of the Caribbean Sea hunting for its dinner. Picture the vibrancy of a passing school of butterfly fish showing off an array of bright hues, right within your reach. Can you see yourself swimming alongside a sea turtle, close enough for you to touch its shell? Visiting a popular scuba diving location called the Great Blue Hole in Belize is definitely something to add to your bucket list.

The Blue Hole, one of the world’s most stunning dive spots, is a breathtaking must-see submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize.

Read more