Big Five Foundation Supports Belize Barrier Reef

The Spirit of Big Five Foundation, the 501(c3) nonprofit organization founded by Big Five Tours and Expeditions, has joined other international groups, including Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund in helping Friends of Nature (FoN) in Belize with funding support to protect the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere.

The Belize-based community conservation organization has been active since 1996, and has worked to protect and manage two critically important marine protected areas in the Belize Barrier Reef Complex: Laughing Bird Caye National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve, a high biodiversity hotspot. In addition, through a co-management agreement with Belize’s Ministry of Fisheries, FoN is expecting to also oversee management of the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, another UNESCO site, in the near future.

The 150-mile-long Belize Barrier reef supports a large diversity of marine life and habitats, including hundreds of species of fish, and relatively pristine swaths of mangroves, seaweed, atolls, and barrier, patch, and fringing coral reefs. The reef ecosystem is under tremendous threat from indiscriminate and illegal fishing as well as land-based pollution, climate change, oil exploration, shipping, and unregulated coastal development.

What began as a grass roots organization in five local communities, FoN is now recognized as a conservation leader in the management of marine protected areas in Belize. FoN plays several key roles in protecting these fragile environments, like enforcing laws and regulations, and providing management presence within and beyond park boundaries.