Belize changes gear on 16% GDP COVID loss!

By: Staff Writer

October 4, 2022 

A top Belizean government official said that the country loses 4 percent annually from extreme weather events to add to the COVID-19 GDP loss over the last three years.

Valentino Shal,  chief executive officer in the Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour, and Local Government, said at the Korea-LAC summit last week that Belize is trying to position itself to deal better with climate change impacts as the country balances recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Valentino Shal

Mr Shal also said: “The loss and damage from extreme weather events is costing Belize, about 4 percent of its GDP annually on average. 

“We are also trying to recover from the COVID 19 pandemic, which devastated the economy. Our economy is very dependent on tourism and so, overnight, tourism went from a very important part of the economy to zero. 

“That took away about 16 percent of GDP for us. So here we are, now we’re trying to recover from the effects of COVID-19. And we also have to recover and keep fighting the effects of climate change on our economy. We have no choice, we have to keep growing the economy and at the same time keep adapting to climate change.” 

Belize is also flood prone and even within the past month flood waters ravaged Belmopan as waters washed away pathways and made roads impassable. 

The country needs to become more climate change resilient in the face of these challenges. Mr Shal added: “For us in Belize climate changes through storms, drought and flooding, is affecting our agri-productive sector and of course, our infrastructure. 

“Those are the two main areas we see the effects taking place. So as a result, we are investing in improving our road networks and so while this investment is beneficial in terms of our climate adaptation, it also helps us to increase our economic productivity and efficiency in moving goods and products to the market both internally and externally.” 

The country is also positioning itself to take advantage of the new green economy despite the challenges. “Similarly, in the area of agriculture, after tourism, our economy is very dependent on agriculture. So because of this dependence and because of the importance of agriculture to food security, we are also investing significantly in climate smart agriculture, and expanding sustainable agricultural practices using available technologies, such as more efficient irrigation cover structures, water harvesting, agroforestry…” 

He added: “This climate smart agriculture approach not only increases economic efficiency in production, but also has the benefit of reducing the cost of production and post harvest losses all at the same time. So not only is this good for our exports, it’s also good for the environment, it’s good for the economy. It increases job opportunities and income for Belizeans.” 

The country is also working on a “green and blue industrial policy,” and working towards providing incentives and subsidies for technological innovation. Belize will also be preparing a new carbon credit legislation to establish a framework to manage and regulate the carbon credit market, said Mr Shal. Due to the country’s large forests, there are significant opportunities for “carbon sequestration.” 

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