Climate Witness: Carlton Young Jr., Belize

Posté le 27 janvier 2009

Tour operator Carlton Young Junior is worried about dying coral and increased costal erosion from sea level rises and destruction of the local mangroves in Placencia, Belize.

My name is Carlton Young Junior I am 37 years old and I live in Placencia, Belize. I am a dive master and also a musician but right now I manage my own small tour operating business.

English | Română | Dutch | Deutsch Dying coral

We have seen tremendous changes in the temperature in recent times and because I have been diving a lot I have seen the impacts under the water. In 1998 just before Hurricane Mitch, the water temperature was extremely high and I noticed a lot of coral bleaching at the time.

Even now, although we have cold fronts coming through, the water doesn’t get as cold as it used to. The last couple of years it has started to become alarming for me as it is getting a lot warmer. That’s one of the big changes that I am seeing.

After Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and Hurricane Iris in 2001 destroyed much of the coral, what is left seems to be experiencing a lot of discoloration. Coral starts losing its colors when under stress, and then if the water temperature doesn’t cool off eventually they die. I am concerned that if the temperature keeps increasing, we won’t have any living coral to take tourists to see and our industry will be in trouble.

Future of the tourism industry in Placencia

The main industry in Placencia has always been fishing. We used to be top producer of whole seafood but after a period of time we realized we weren’t able to catch as many fish or lobster so people started turning to tourism as the main way to earn an income. However in my opinion if tourism keeps growing without any regulations as it is now, it is going to have a negative impact on the environment. We need to minimize the impact in some of the areas these tourists are visiting.

For example, tourists who come here to see the coral reefs can have a negative impact on the coral that is already under stress from sea temperature rises and more frequent severe weather. If you get a lot of tourists in one area, the guides may not always be able to direct tourists appropriately and this could put more stress on the coral.

And when there is no more coral, will we still have a tourism industry?

Changed weather events and sea level rise

One thing I do notice is that when I was a kid growing up cold fronts used to last 13 days whereas now the cold fronts never last longer than five days. They do not come as frequently nor do they last as long.

One thing I know for sure, it is getting a lot hotter, particularly in the summer. We have noticed an increase in skin diseases and rashes which I think is related to hotter climate. For example we have seen more cases of Prickle Heat recently that lasts for months.

The other thing I notice is that the water level is much higher than where it used to be 20 years ago. It has risen quite significantly. There is an island not far from Placencia where we have seen serious erosion and I think that is due to sea levels rising. And even here in Placencia I have noticed coastal erosion.

Fish species

Ten years ago when I was still fishing with my dad there were more fish than there are today. I don’t know if that is because of climate change or overfishing but it is noticeable.

Development and mangroves

Due to the growth of the tourism industry there is a lot of development taking place and not enough emphasis placed on the environment by the Government. Since this peninsula is mostly covered in mangroves, the developers are cutting down the mangroves to develop the land. They are cutting them down like there is no tomorrow as well as doing a lot of dredging in the lagoons.

I have a property on the lagoon where there is a big development being built. I have seen a lot of changes in that area over the last couple of months particularly with the increase of algae growing in the mangroves.

The mangroves are important to the structure that holds the land together. The development that is destroying the mangroves is making us more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. With sea levels rising, these mangroves are really important in stopping erosion and if we don’t take some drastic measures to protect them we are going to be in trouble in the future.

I fear that this whole peninsula could be washed away if we keep cutting down the mangroves.

Mangroves are also essential for the reproduction of marine animals. The mangroves are where 90% of juvenile sea creatures live. These animals will have no where to hide from predators if we cut the mangroves down. We won’t have any fish, lobsters, crabs and what is left of the fishing industry could collapse.

Action for the future

I think that the ministry of environment should put more emphasis on protecting the environment. There are laws but they are not enforced and that is the problem.
It is very detrimental that we have some intervention from our leaders at the government level.

One of the ways we can make a difference is to have more access to our leaders and show them the problems and be able to talk to them about it. They need to have first hand experience of the damage being done.

We also need to educate local people about the effects of climate change and some of the things we can do to minimise the impacts.

Scientific review

A scientific review by a member of the Climate Witness Science Advisory Panel is pending.

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