Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve

Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Map of Belize
Location	Ambergris Caye, Corozal District, Belize
Coordinates	18°08′28″N 87°51′47″W / 18.141°N 87.863°W / 18.141; -87.863Coordinates: 18°08′28″N 87°51′47″W / 18.141°N 87.863°W / 18.141; -87.863
Area	15,530 acres (62.8 km2)
Established	1996

Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve (BCNPMR) is a protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site on the northern part of Ambergris Caye in Belize.

BCNPMR had its inception in the early 1990s when the Broadhead Group sought to construct a community for retirees in northern Ambergris Caye. An environmental impact assessment by the Belize Center for Environmental Studies found the Bacalar Chico region to have an unusually high biodiversity for a barrier island. In 1995, the Natural Resources Management Plan and the Protection Project first developed a comprehensive management plan for the various vegetative assemblages within Belize. This plan specifically recommended the extreme northern portion of the island for inclusion based on the merits of its salt marsh ecosystem. At this time, fishermen in San Pedro and the mainland village of Sarteneja were growing concerned over the accelerating depletion of marine resources on Ambergris Caye.

Community support for the creation of a reserve in Bacalar Chico was largely influenced by the Hol Chan Marine Reserve’s success in generating revenue from entrance fees and sustaining tour guiding operations. In 1995, the San Pedro NGO Greenreef Environmental Institute developed a management plan for the area, and a year later Bacalar Chico was officially recognized as a national park and marine reserve. The park remained protected in name only for the next three years. The Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (CZMAI) began paying salaries and operational expenses for marine protected areas designated under the World Heritage criteria in 1999. Funding from the CZMAI expired in 2004, when the financial and managerial responsibility for BCNPMR was transferred to the Government of Belize, which now furnishes US $100,000 a year for operational expenses and the salaries of the park’s four rangers. An additional 10% of the park’s budget is provided through small grants from organizations including the Nature Conservancy and the MesoAmerican Barrier Reef Systems Project.

BCNPMR comprises two distinct legal areas with their own set of laws. The national park is managed under the National Park Systems Act, with the ministerial responsibility held by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Industry. This section encompasses 12,640 acres (51.2 km²) of land, of which 20% are privately owned lands. The strip of privately held land within BCNPMR is administered through the Ministry of Housing. One parcel given to the location of the current ranger headquarters. The remainder of the private holdings in the park consists of several parcels that comprise the majority of the park’s windward shoreline.