Belize Says No More Drilling

On December 29, 2017, the government of Belize made a monumental decision. They voted to prohibit any new oil drilling in its waters – indefinitely.

True, Belize wasn’t exactly an oil-producing powerhouse to begin with. They produced only about 3,000 barrels per day (compare that with the 1.5 million barrels per day that the United States extracts from the Gulf of Mexico), but even that amount made up more than a quarter of Belize’s exports.

Tourism, on the other hand, brings in more than $200 million annually to Belize, supporting about half of local jobs. The main tourist attraction? The extensive reef, of course. At 190 miles long, it’s part of the largest reef in North America, and the second largest in the world (Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the biggest). It’s also the location of the famous Great Blue Hole, described by ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau as one of the 10 greatest dive sites in the world.

UNESCO declared the reef a World Heritage site in 1996. It’s home to 1,400 species, including endangered hawksbill turtles, manatees, rays and six threatened species of shark. It also serves as a natural barrier against storm surge and beach erosion.

Environmental groups began lobbying the Belize government for an off shore drilling ban since 2006. In 2009, UNESCO added it to their Endangered list “due to the destruction of mangroves and marine ecosystems, offshore oil extraction, and the development of non-sustainable building projects.”

In 2017, the World Wide Fund for Nature began a campaign to protect this ecosystem. More than 450,000 people, from all across the world, emailed Belize’s government, and their efforts paid off.

In June of 2018, fewer than six months after the decision to stop oil production (as well as stronger forestry regulations allowing for better protection of mangroves), the reef was taken off UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger.

Belize might have lost some oil, but it’s gained a whole lot more in return.

Source:

Curriculum Reference Links

  • Physical World / Sustainability / 8:  Students should be able to research and discuss the ethical and sustainability issues that arise from our generation and consumption of electricity
  • Biological World / Sustainability / 10:  Students should be able to evaluate how humans can successfully conserve ecological biodiversity and contribute to global food production;  appreciate the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems

 



Young Scientist Spotlight:
HANNAH HERBST

10 Fun Facts: The Hab

1. Aquarius is the the world’s only permanent undersea research station.

2. Most missions last about two or three weeks.

3. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, beat his grandfather’s record month-long underwater expedition by spending 31 days on the Aquarius Reef Base in 2014.

4. The lab is used by NASA, the US Navy, and researchers and educators from around the globe for training and research.

5. The internet connection is better in the Hab than at many places above the water.

6. You have to swim underneath the facility in order to enter it.

7. Crew members are called aquanauts (NOT aquaNUTS!)

8. In 1994, a crew of scientists and divers had to evacuate Aquarius and climb up a rescue line to the surface in 15-foot seas after one of the habitat’s generators caught fire.

9. Aquarius was featured in the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon in 2012.

10. The Hab was originally built in Texas.

10 Fun Facts: Coral

1. Reefs usually grow up on the east shore of land masses.

2. Parts of a coral reef can be harvested to make medications to treat cancers and other illnesses.

3. A coral reef isn’t a single organism; it’s actually a community of life that lives and thrives in one location.

4. Only about one percent of the world’s oceans contain coral reefs. That’s about the size of France.

5. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth.

6. Corals are related to jellyfish and anemones.

7. There are over 2,500 species of corals. About 1,000 are the hard corals that build coral reefs.

8. Reefs grow where there are stronger wave patterns and currents to deliver food and nutrients.

9. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10 Fun Facts: Invasive Species

1. To be considered invasive, a species must adapt to a new area easily. It must reproduce quickly. It must harm property, the economy, or the native plants and animals of the region.

2. Some invasive species are introduced accidentally, but others are brought deliberately.

3. Ship ballast water transports between 3,000 and 7,000 foreign species daily around the globe.

4. The total loss to the world economy as a result of invasive non-native species has been estimated at 5% of annual production

5. Invasive species have contributed to 40% of the animal extinctions that have occurred in the last 400 years.

6. Rodents are some of the worst invasive species.

7. There are an estimated 50,000 wild ring-necked parakeets in parks across London and southeast England.

8. Black and Norway rats annually consume stored grains and destroy other property valued over $19 billion.

9. Northern Pacific seastars reproduce very quickly. In one area where they were introduced, their population reached an estimated 12 million seastars in just two years.

10. Starlings were introduced to New York in the late 1800s, as part of an attempt to bring animals that were mentioned in Shakespeare‘s work to America.

Alert: Cuteness Overload!

Cutest animal in the ocean? Keep your Sea Otter. Forget the Dumbo Octopus. Axolotl? Close, but no cigar.

The winner of the Cutest Sea Animal prize is the Leaf Sheep Slug.

Yes, a slug. This tiny (5mm) animal, found near the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan, looks like a cartoon sheep covered in bright green leaves with pinkish purple tips.

Bonus: it’s one of the only animals that can perform photosynthesis, thanks to all the algae it eats.

Beat that.

Back to Hablog