1924 | Forests Act. |
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1927 | Forests Department is created. |
1948 | Fisheries Act. |
1972 | Ancient Monuments and Antiquities Act. |
1981 | National Park System Act, Wildlife Protection Act. |
1989 | Department of the Environment is created. |
1992 | Environmental Protection Act. |
1996 | Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) is created. |
Since declaring independence in 1981, Belize has enacted many environmental protection laws aimed at the preservation of the country's natural and cultural heritage, as well as its wealth of natural resources. These acts have established a number of different types of protected areas, with each category having its own set of regulations dictating public access, resource extraction, land use and ownership.
Roughly 26% (2.6 million acres, or 1.22 million hectares) of Belizean land and sea is preserved within a total of 95 reserves, which vary in their purpose and level of protection. This network of protected areas exists under a variety of management structures:
However, most of these protected areas are actually for the management of resource use and extraction, rather than for the preservation of the environment.
Situated within the Mesoamerican hotspot, Belize has a high level of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. It is home to more than 150 species of mammals, 540 of birds, 150 of amphibians and reptiles, nearly 600 species of freshwater and marine fish and 3,408 species of vascular plants. The country contains a vast array of ecosystems, many of which are critical habitats for threatened and endangered species.