The Scout Association of Belize

The “First Regional Forum on Maritime and Port Environmental Management” was held on May 27 & 28, 2010 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. 

The Forum was sponsored by the Central American Commission of Maritime Transportation (COCATRAM) and the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD), through the Project for Pollution Prevention and Control of land-based and maritime sources within the Gulf of Honduras. 

The specific objectives of the forum were:

• To debate and agree on strategies and actions oriented to improve port management, and control and prevent pollution caused by hydrocarbons and other land-based sources in the Gulf of Honduras

• To expand strategic capacity of information areas on the matter.

• To identify mechanisms to optimize the use of GOLFONET.

• To facilitate articulation of the sectors gathered by the network with other sectors interested on the subject matters

• To analyze and compare cases with new approaches to address pollution cases

Present at the forum were over 20 key stakeholders representing government departments, non government organizations, and the private sector in the Gulf of Honduras region (Belize, Guatemala and Honduras), whose commitment is on port and maritime management, pollution prevention and control, and preservation of coastal areas in the region.  Belize had representation from The Scout Association of Belize, Department of the Environment, Port of Belize and the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute.

 During the two-day forum Mr. Ricardo N. Alcoser, Director of Environmental Programs who represented The Scout Association of Belize did a Power Point presentation on pollution prevention and control.  The topic for the presentation was on “Scout of Belize participation and contribution on the Annual International Coastal Clean-up” which included statistics of quantity of detailed items collected on an annual basis during the one-day coastal clean-up.

At the end of the two-day forum participants were able to agree on strategies and actions oriented at improving port management and control and prevention of pollution caused by hydrocarbons and other land based sources in the Gulf of Honduras, became more aware, through information presented, on what other organizations are doing as their contribution to control and prevent pollution and how new approaches can be used to address the pollution situation in the Gulf of Honduras.