By Belize Live News Staff: For a country like Belize, climate change is not a distant threat. It shows up in stronger hurricanes, rising seas, coastal erosion, sargassum and pressure on farmers and fishers.
That is why securing climate funding is a top priority for the Belize delegation at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.
Leroy Martinez, Director of the Climate Finance Unit at the Ministry of Economic Transformation, is following the climate finance negotiations and pushing for funding that is easier to access, sufficient for Belize’s needs and reliable over time.
He will meet with development partners and funders, and join a panel discussion aimed at building partnerships to bring more climate finance to Belize.
The push ties directly to Plan Belize 2.0 and the country’s national climate strategies. Recent examples of climate related needs include Placencia’s struggle with severe beach erosion and Prime Minister John Briceño’s request for about $20 million in World Bank support to tackle sargassum.
At international meetings this year, the Prime Minister has also called for catastrophe bonds, parametric insurance and contingency credit lines to help small states recover from shocks without taking on more debt.
COP31 brings together world leaders, negotiators and experts to agree on global climate action and how to fund it.
