Nestled in the heart of Central America, among majestic mountains, and tropical jungles, it is no doubt that Belize is destined to be green. She is green just as the color implies, bedazzling every sight with varieties of blooming trees.
According blogs, and reports made by several resorts and Belizean websites, more than half of Belize’s landscape is sheltered by the “lungs of the atmosphere”, pristine, dense rainforests. While it is said that of her 8,867 square miles, 62 square miles is comprised of small islands, this does not prohibit the continuous growth and development of flora and fauna; as Belize boasts attractive islands surrounded by diverse trees and of course these islands neighbor the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere, and the second largest in the southern hemisphere. These green communities are on life long missions to preserve and conserve ecological processes especially that of endangered flora and fauna.
These protection services are by no means any hindrance to the promotion of tourism, rather they promote diversity within the industry. As a matter of fact, there are barely any possibilities of thinking tourism in Belize without thinking or seeing the color green. Conserving of these green communities give tourists an advanced menu of what Belize has to offer.
Now it no special discovery that Belize has been taking initiative in implementing activities within her tourism sector, to purposefully conserve and preserve natural resources and the environment as the word green implies. Some years ago, as a student I did an internship at a resort on one of Belize’s small islands, where they generated their own compost using waste foods, and used this compost to decompose human waste products in outhouses (which was in house but well kept to avoid stench and pollution). They also had their own means of generating electricity, and an excellent filtration and purification system that allowed them to generate their own potable water. In relation to solid waste, the reduction of their use was highly encouraged, while other materials were reused which means disposables were highly discouraged, but if there was a need for them, recycle bins were placed around the environment which tourists used appropriately. They complied to procedures well. Those that could not be salvaged, were bagged up and return safely to main land to have been disposed of properly.