For years, residents of Dangriga have watched in alarm as rising sea levels and persistent coastal erosion steadily gnaw away at their beloved shoreline. But this week, a transformative $4 million coastal conservation initiative has officially kicked off, bringing urgent intervention to save the disappearing beach before it is lost forever.
The multi-community climate adaptation program, which targets 27 coastal settlements across Belize already grappling with the tangible impacts of a changing climate, has centered its immediate efforts on Dangriga’s vulnerable northern coastline. For generations, this stretch of sand has been a central part of local life – from casual recreation to daily exercise – but decades of relentless tidal action have steadily reduced its size.
Local resident Melvin Diego shared his deep concern over the shoreline’s gradual disappearance, a spot he once frequented regularly for personal training. “Dangriga is a place where there is a lot of breeze and the sea comes drastically hard. So it worries me that we are not going to have any beach ten years, twenty-five years from now for our children,” Diego explained, echoing the fears of many long-time residents who have watched the beach shrink incrementally over time.
Eli Romero, climate finance manager at the Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT), outlined the science behind the restoration strategy. Preliminary geological surveys have confirmed that the sand eroded from Dangriga’s shoreline has not been washed out to sea permanently; instead, it has accumulated offshore, directly in front of the town. The project’s core intervention will involve dredging this accumulated sand and redistributing it back onto the original beach to rebuild the shoreline.
The ambitious restoration effort is a collaborative partnership between three key stakeholders: the Adaptation Fund, the Protected Areas Conservation Trust, and the Government of Belize, bringing together climate finance, local conservation expertise, and governmental support to address a pressing climate adaptation challenge. Local news outlet News 5 has announced it will air an in-depth on-location report from Dangriga in its upcoming broadcast, featuring interviews with a long-time local conservation advocate who has cleaned and protected the shoreline for decades, alongside exclusive footage of the eroding coastline ahead of restoration work.