(City of Belmopan, August 28, 2025) – Today, the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future awarded Emergency Response Grants totalling BZ$250,000 to the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) and the Belize Hotel Association (BHA), to help address the worsening sargassum emergency impacting people, ecosystems, and livelihoods.
The emergency funding is equally distributed between the BTIA and BHA, with each organization receiving BZ$125,000 to support affected hotels in San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Hopkins, Seine Bight, Placencia, and other offshore islands. The Funds will be used to support sargassum removal through equipment rental, hiring of personnel, and safe disposal. This intervention will also help maintain cleaner beaches for both residents and visitors.
“Beyond tourism impacts, decomposing sargassum creates serious respiratory health risks for coastal communities, kills marine life through oxygen depletion, contaminates our waters, and threatens the livelihoods of fishermen and other coastal workers,” expressed Dr. Leandra Cho-Ricketts, Executive Director of the Belize Fund. “While we cannot solve this emergency alone, we want to help reduce its immediate impacts on both our environment and our people.”
The Signing Representatives were:
• Dr. Leandra Cho-Ricketts (Belize Fund)
• Ms. Linette Canto (BTIA)
• Mr. Reynaldo Malik (BHA)
The two-month intervention operates through a re-granting mechanism, allowing BTIA and BHA to distribute funds directly to the most severely affected hotels in coastal areas where they are needed most urgently.
