Nature-Based Climate Responses (Belize)

For Belize’s Nationally Determined Contributions analyses (NDCs are the actions countries aim to take towards the global goal outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees °C), the Natural Capital Project used coastal vulnerability, lobster fishery, blue carbon, and tourism InVEST models to quantify the greenhouse gas and co-benefits of alternative target areas and locations for mangrove protection and restoration. ROOT was used to identify priority locations for mangroves conservation and restoration to maximize the delivery of co-benefits to coastal communities. Belize used this study on the societal and economic benefits of mangroves to update its NDCs. This work was based in part on NatCap's work on Belize's Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan. 

Project partners include NatCap at Stanford and University of Minnesota; Belizean government: Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (CZMAI) and Belize's National Climate Change Office; WWF-Belize, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Pew Charitable Trusts, Silvestrum Climate Associates. Funding: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Google  Foundation, WWF-US