As climate and human activity continue to put growing strain on critical freshwater ecosystems across Central America, the government of Belize has formalized a new collaborative partnership with global conservation leader The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to protect and restore the country’s vulnerable rivers and freshwater networks. The signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), announced August 16, 2026, establishes a structured long-term framework for joint action across multiple core conservation priorities.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two partners will work together on integrated watershed planning, systematic ecological monitoring, standardized data collection, public outreach campaigns to build community awareness, and coordinated engagement with all stakeholders that rely on Belize’s freshwater resources. All initiatives under the partnership are aligned with the shared goal of advancing more sustainable management practices for Belize’s valuable freshwater supplies.
With more than decades of on-the-ground experience partnering with national governments and local communities around the world on freshwater management and watershed restoration projects, TNC brings a wealth of global expertise to this collaboration. Organization representatives note that the partnership will allow Belize to leverage this international experience to advance its own national conservation priorities for freshwater ecosystems.
Hannah St Luce-Martinez, TNC’s Country Program Director for Belize, emphasized the interconnected nature of healthy freshwater systems in explaining the urgency of the work. “Water doesn’t recognise institutional boundaries. What happens upstream can affect communities downstream and ultimately our coastal and marine ecosystems,” she said. “Protecting freshwater requires cooperation across agencies, sectors and communities.”
The MOU comes at a critical moment for Belize, as its rivers and surrounding watersheds face intensifying threats from extreme weather events including more frequent severe flooding and extended drought, driven in part by rising global temperatures, alongside growing pollution from human activity. By combining the Belizean government’s local leadership and on-the-ground jurisdiction with TNC’s decades of global conservation experience, both sides say they are committed to delivering long-lasting, measurable outcomes that benefit both natural ecosystems and the local communities that depend on healthy freshwater systems for their livelihoods and well-being.
