Rising Seas: A Belize Case Study

Figure 1. An aerial picture of Belize's coast from the Placencia Peninsula. Courtesy of Laru Beya.

In the status quo, sea level rise is a geological phenomenon that is negatively impacting coastal regions all around the world (Tuvalu, U.S., Bangladesh, etc). The history of Belizean coastal erosion due to sea level rise can be traced back to the 1980s (Karlsson et al., 2015).

The objective of this Story Map is to explain the science and background of sea level rise, its direct impact on Belize, and the measures that can be, and are actively being used to mitigate and accommodate the issue.

Belize is a country located in the northernmost part of the Central American Isthmus and along the southeastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. The country’s land area of 22,960 square kilometers features a long, low-lying coastline (much of the coastline has less than one meter of elevation), making the coastal area extremely vulnerable to flooding and other coastal disasters, such as hurricanes (Belize, UNDP). Within its region, Belize is also vulnerable to coastal retreat due to its lack of mountainous regions in comparison to other Central American countries (Ramos, 2016). Almost half (45%) of Belize’s population of 375,000 lives within ten kilometers of the coast (Belize, PAHO; Karlsson et al., 2015). In addition, the coast drives much of the Belizean economy, as a lot of economic activity and infrastructure are based along the country’s coastline, including important aspects of Belize’s tourism and fishing industries (Karlsson et al., 2015).

Sea level rise is a phenomenon that is occurring in the status quo due to anthropogenic climate change in two main ways: melting glaciers and thermal expansion. As Earth’s temperatures have begun to increase, large ice sheets and glaciers at the poles have started melting, creating an overall increase in ocean water, causing sea levels to rise (Oppenheimer et al., 2019). In addition to this, heat causes water to expand because water absorbs it, meaning that as temperatures increase, seawater expands due to the absorption, resulting in a rise in sea levels (Oppenheimer et al., 2019). Anthropogenic factors, like burning hydrocarbons such as fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases to create energy and support the agriculture industry, while also inadvertently filling the atmosphere with heat trapping pollutants, have resulted in the creation of the conditions that facilitate changes in climate for decades (Vetter el al. 2017; Zalasiewicz et al., 2015). Fossil fuel burning releases carbon dioxide, and since carbon dioxide is a heat trapping greenhouse gas, its emission results in increases in temperature (Zalasiewicz et al., 2015).

Some of the negative environmental impacts of sea level rise in Belize are coastal erosion, flooding, and desalination, which can all lead to ecosystem damage and the loss of important natural resources. Coastal erosion occurs when sea levels rise and wear away parts of the coast. As sea levels rise, coastal land and sediment can be moved and displaced by the rising waves and tides of the sea, resulting in coastal erosion (Karlsson et al., 2015). Coastal erosion is negatively impacting coastal areas of Belize because the erosion is harming the coastal forests and coastal beach shrubs, which are extremely important because they act as barriers to help stabilize and ameliorate increases in beach erosion as well as functioning as habitats for many animal species (Cashman and Nagdee, 2017). Some more negative environmental impacts of sea level rise are flooding and salinization, which refers to salt building up in soil, which both occur when ocean water is carried up to non-marine coastal environments.

The main economic impact of sea level rise in Belize is the large expense the issue creates due to the damage it causes. When sea level rise results in coastal retreat that damages or destroys infrastructure, homes, and critical environmental features, citizens and the Belizean government must cover the costs of these effects in order to rebuild what rising sea levels and coastal erosion damage, resulting in large restoration expenses. Sea level rise also negatively impacts Belize due to its effect on some of the country’s most important industries. Because of its beautiful beaches and islands, coral reefs, and popular port cities, tourism is a popular industry for Belize’s economy and in 2017, tourism contributed 22% to the country’s GDP and accounted for 13% of its employment rate (Eugui and Formenti, 2018). However, since sea level rise is threatening Belize’s beaches, islands, coral reefs, and port cities due to the erosion and flooding it causes, the tourist attractions that make up the tourism industry will be damaged or destroyed. This will result in a decrease in tourism accompanied by a decrease in the GDP generated from the tourism industry. In addition, sea level rise also threatens Belize economically by harming ecosystems with natural resources that the Belizeans use to generate money, such as bananas for banana cultivation and shrimp farms (Karlsson and Hovelsrud, 2015).

One of the main social impacts of sea level rise is damage to coastal infrastructure and industries such as agriculture, shrimp farming, and tourism (Karlsson et al., 2015). Coastal infrastructure being impacted by sea level rise has a very significant social impact in Belize because a large amount of the country’s residents live within ten kilometers of the coast, meaning they are at risk of becoming climate change refugees as their homes and the infrastructure they rely on in their daily lives are being put at risk due to rising sea levels (Karlsson et al., 2015). In addition to posing a threat to the daily lives of Belizeans both living near the coast and benefitting from coastal industries and infrastructure, sea level rise has also impacted Belize socially by damaging sites of cultural significance such as ancestral burial grounds (Cashman and Nagdee, 2017).

The United States and Brazil are two examples of some other countries in the Americas that are also being impacted by sea level rise and its harms. In northwestern Alaska, sea level rise is occurring and due to coastal degradation from rising shores mixing with melting permafrost being caused by increasing temperatures, coastal erosion is underway and in some areas, it is happening rapidly (Farquharson et al., 2018). In the status quo, approximately 35% of Brazil’s coastline is undergoing erosion due to increases in sea level rise coupled with unplanned coastal development as well as an increase in storm surges (Leal Filho et al., 2017).

To directly combat sea level rise, Belize can implement a few techniques to mitigate or accommodate the harms, such as natural protective buffers like mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs. These plants can be used to help protect from the negative coastal impacts of erosion by being planted or refortified near at risk shores to act as a protective buffer, decreasing the amount of sea level rise and coastal erosion (Guannel et al., 2016). Although certain types of natural protective vegetation work better than others, the overall conclusion from analyzing mangrove forests, seagrasses, and corals is that they are the most effective when they are used together, since their protective properties support each other, creating a system of coastal fortification (Guannel et al., 2016). Belize could also expand its use of elevated architecture and transportation infrastructure to decrease the impacts of sea level rise (Poh Wong, 2018).

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