Safeguarding Biodiversity and Species Abundance in Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

Grantee:

Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development (SACD)

Location:

Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (CBWS)

Thematic Area:

Protection For Biodiversity

Timeframe:

May 2023 – April 2025

Funds from Belize Fund ($BZD):

$350,000.00

Co-financing ($BZD):

$586,397.08

Project Goal:

To ensure that the effective and financially sustainable management of CBWS prevents losses in biodiversity and safeguards the continued managed access to traditional livelihoods in the MPA through 2030.

Project Objectives:

  1. To ensure that high-quality MPA monitoring and enforcement data is available to inform adaptive management decisions for the protection of biodiversity in CBWS through April 2025.
  2. To strengthen the management and sustainability of the traditional beach trap fishery in CBWS, guided by a fully implemented sustainable fishery plan, by March 2024.
  3. To improve SACD’s financial sustainability through investments in SACD’s Business Arm, Tour Operator, and CBWS tourism stakeholders’ capacity by 2025.

Expected Outputs:

  1. The increased effectiveness of the SACD S&E Team improves fisheries compliance within CBWS by 50% compared with the 2022 baseline by 2025.
  2. 100% of CBWS species conservation targets are fully managed by SACD before April 2025.
  3. An endorsed sustainable fishery plan is implemented in CBWS by March 2025.
  4. Revenue generation through expedition hosting increases by 200% from the 2022 baseline by 2025.
  5. CBWS tourism stakeholders are engaged in 50 days of direct employment annually by 2025.