?Question(s) Week of the

February 9, 2023

When will the UDP denounce the UDP-friendly media exposing their ‘bacon house?” Were people being paid to vote? Whose voters were paid to vote in the Belmopan UDP standard bearer convention? Democratic?

Congratulations!

To the Museum of Belize (NICH) on their 21st anniversary! The Museum was established on February 5, 2002.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY HON. JOHN BRICEÑO PRIME MINISTER OF BELIZE ON THE OCCASION OF

THE INITIATIVE 20X20, BONN CHALLENGE AND AFOLU 2040 JOINT MEETING ON RESTORING DEGRADED LANDS

THEME: LAND-BASED ACTIONS FOR MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION: SUPPORTING THE UN DECADE ON ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION in SAN PEDRO, BELIZE, on 8TH FEBRUARY 2023

Your Excellencies, Other distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

We are pleased that you are with us here today in beautiful San Pedro for this important Initiative. Your presence here today is not just testament to your commitment to twenty by twenty, but, it signifies the importance you each must play in the regional discourse on restoring our ecosystems. We have an important work ahead of us in this region – our work will determine prosperity or poverty, health or disease, development or despair. As melodramatic that this may sound on the surface, this is really what these meetings are truly about. Our task, therefore, is to restore the functionality of degraded ecosystems or risk our own long term sustainable development. Initiatives like the Bonn Challenge help us to take t he necessary political steps to establish and promote country-led efforts to change the dynamics of land degradation in Latin America and the Caribbean by restoring more than 350 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

For sure, we have no shortage of degraded land in our region, some estimates suggest as much as 80 percent of our natural ecosy stems have been converted to human-altered landscapes. While we have political support at the highest level across the region, where we must accelerate our efforts is in the development of significant financing and nationally appropriate technical support for land restoration. In this regar d we readily acknowledge that our successes are possible because of the technical support of the UN system and other partners whose contributions h elp us to achieve our emissions reduction goals. The support of our financial partners facilitates negotiations that are beneficial; and, equitable trade of carbon offsets for developing countries.

I think we all agree that this must happen within the next year. The necessary targets which we had for our 2020 ecosystem restoration has now became our 2030 targets. Let us be successful in our efforts this time around so that we do not end up kicking the can down the road yet another time. Let us not let the 2030 targets become 2040 targets. We need to take our emissions reductions results to market, and in so doing, let us be inclusive, collaborating with our private sector partners to achieve our restoration goals. For such important work, we need all hands-on deck. Indeed, I am happy to learn of the participation of private investors in this Joint Meeting – your engagement and support in this process is pivotal to its success.

Restoration of degraded landscapes are beneficial, for they positively impact our climate goals. The science points to complex and inter-related benefits between healthy natural systems and human health. A clear example of this is the covid-19 pandemic. Look -- we know the benefits of restoration, what we as a global community must now resolve, are those best methods and approaches to restore ecosystems. Partners, such as the IUCN and others, have invested significant effort in developing guidance and technical support packages for countries. Still implementation on the ground is lacking. Yet there is reason to remain optimistic.

I am pleased to say that while the international discourse continues, locally, communities are making the necessary strides to restore their ecosystems. For example, here in Belize indigenous technology and know-how, provided with the support of government and international donors, is being used to introduce easily implementable, small-scale options for replanting mangroves and enhancing agricultural landscapes thro ugh alley-cropping and organic fertilization. We readily confess though that scaling up these interventions will require buy-in from larger donors, the private sector, international partners, and, of course, the markets.

Like many others, Belize has been persistently making the call for greater, broad-based, and accessible financing to ramp up restoration on the ground and to put the world on track for a sustainable future. We are also seeking to create our own opportunities, taking advantage of converging agendas in the international carbon market space. About two weeks ago, my government launched Belize’s Medium Term Development Strategy. The strategy was developed to operationalize our #planBelize which seeks to transform Belize toward a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient society in which all Belizeans must benefit. The strategy is predicated on a whole-of-government approach to deliver on six strategic objectives which are founded on the recognition that the socio-economic well-being of Belize’s people and our economy on a whole is natural-resource based, with tourism, fishing, and agricultural industries tightly linked to the health of our biological diversity and the delivery of ecosyste m services.

Recently, we showed our bold approach to marine conservation by completing a debt-for-marine-protection swap better known as The Blue Bonds where we committed to increase expenditure on marine conservation until 2041 and expand our Biodiversity Protection Zones in coral reefs, mangroves, and fish spawning sites from 16 percent to 30 percent of its sea space by 2026. My administration is keen on transit ioning to a Green and Blue Economy with a focus on improving the lives of our local and indigenous communities who along with my government are c ustodians of these green and blue spaces.

We absolutely recognize the need for greater transparency in estimating and reporting emissions reductions, and to this end, Belize is taking the initiative to develop its own transparent and accurate monitoring, reporting, and verification system, building on available te chnology but anchored in our national capacities; and we are willing to share our experience with others. Thus, our national development approach has taken into account the need to balance development with the natural environment while ensuring a sustainable future for the people of Belize. While this is our national circumstance, the same is ultimately true for the region and for the entire globe. Without achieving the much-talked-about harmony with nature, we are simply living on borrowed time. We often refer to Belize as ‘the jewel’ and we truly believe this.

This is why we are committed to playing our part in achieving the Bonn Challenge, Initiative 20x20, and the AFOLU 2040. Our country-led development of a National Landscape Restoration Strategy is for us a signal that we are an active participant in the global Dec ade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. On the regional front, Initiative 20x20 is our home-grown effort to meet, and it is my expectation, to exceed the Bonn Challenge – we are therefore, proud to be part of these initiatives. Belize welcomes the goals and objectives of Initiative 20x20 a nd looks forward to our ongoing regional approaches to combat degradation and climate change through regional mechanisms such as SICA and CARICOM and their various instruments to achieve greater regional integration.

It is my expectation that this Joint Meeting of the Initiative 20X20, Bonn Challenge, and AFOLU 2040 will build on the successes of the region as a whole, but with energized focus on achieving results.

Liberty Children's Home and Sister Cecelia Home for the Elderly Receives Donation from IDB Group Employees

The Office of Mrs. Rossana Briceno, Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children and Elvira Mendez, the Counsellor for Belize at the IDB Group present donation to Liberty Children's Home and Sister Cecelia Home for the Elderly

BELIZE TAX SERVICE DEPARTMENT’S NOTICE HOW TO REGISTER ON IRIS?

This guide will provide a step-by-step on how to register your account:

Go to the Official Belize Tax Service Online Website Belize Tax Services (bts.gov.bz)

On the home page click the “Register for an account” button.

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Belize City. February 09, 2023. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Lisa, the Counsellor for Belize in the Office of the Executive Directors for Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, Elvira Mendez in collaboration with the employees of the Inter-American Development Bank Group [IDB Staff Association, the IDB Family Association, the IDB Retirees Association, and the IDB Global Credit Union], launched the "Solidarity with Belize" fundraising campaign to collect funds for local non-governmental organizations in the countries affected by the hurricanes. The campaign also had the support of the IDB Group Administration that matched the funds raised by the staff. The OAS Staff Association also supported the campaign. The total amount collected was BZD$30,000.

Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children and Elvira Mendez Counsellor for Belize at the IDB presented the donations to Liberty Children's Home and Sister Cecelia Home for the Elderly, each receiving BZD$15,000. The funds will be used for supporting the Relief Effort as a result of Hurricane Lisa. Ms. Agatha Valentine, Director, of Liberty Children's Home and Ms. Diana Fuller, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Sister Cecelia's Home, received the donations on behalf of HelpAge Belize.

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