National Perspective Belize Special Feature

By: Omar Silva I Editor Publisher

National Perspective Belize I Digital 2025

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Belize City: Friday 4th July 2025

Every summer, the golden-brown waves return.

They creep along our coastlines, burying our beaches in thick mats of sargassum.

Tourists wrinkle their noses. Resort owners scramble for rakes and wheelbarrows.

The government issues statements about cleanup.

And then, predictably, nothing changes.

For all the speeches about a Blue Economy, Belize has yet to present a single convincing plan to transform this annual sargassum invasion from a costly nuisance into an economic resource.

Yet across the Caribbean and Latin America, forward-thinking nations and communities are proving that sargassum—once demonized as worthless seaweed—holds real potential for jobs, products, and energy independence.

The Scale of the Challenge—and the Opportunity

In 2024 alone, over 24 million metric tons of sargassum washed ashore across the wider Caribbean. Belize’s share was significant, with drifts carpeting the Placencia Peninsula, Ambergris Caye, and offshore cayes. Cleanup costs are measured in millions of dollars and lost tourism revenue.

But let’s consider this:

If we keep seeing these volumes every year, we are sitting on an unstoppable abundance of free biomass. In a country where most raw materials are imported, how is it possible that we have failed to recognize this as a strategic resource?

Other Nations Are Moving Ahead

In Mexico, pilot plants have already turned sargassum into:

• Organic fertilizers for export
• Construction bricks for affordable housing
• Animal feed supplements tested for livestock
• Biogas to power coastal communities

In Barbados, farmers are composting sargassum as a soil conditioner, reducing their dependence on costly imported inputs. In Martinique, small cooperatives are extracting bioactive compounds for cosmetics.

Meanwhile, Belize has created a Ministry of Blue Economy—but where are the pilot projects? Where is the vision to convert waste into wealth?

A Vision for a New Industry

Imagine Belizean entrepreneurs and cooperatives collecting sargassum systematically, processing it in small regional plants, and producing:

✅ Pelletized organic fertilizer branded Belize Blue

✅ Renewable biogas for resorts and coastal villages

✅ Sustainable bricks for low-income housing

✅ Animal feed supplements for cattle and aquaculture

✅ Eco-cosmetics proudly labelled Made in Belize

These are not pipe dreams. They are proven applications that simply require political will, modest investment, and regulatory support.

What Must Happen Next?

For too long, we have allowed the sargassum crisis to be framed only as a burden. This mindset is defeatist and unworthy of Belize’s talent and creativity.

We call on the Ministry of Blue Economy to:

• Launch a National Sargassum Utilization Taskforce composed of scientists, entrepreneurs, hoteliers, and farmers.
• Fund at least three pilot projects—one for fertilizer, one for biogas, and one for building materials.
• Partner with regional institutions that already have successful models.
• Provide clear tax incentives and fast-track permits for local businesses willing to invest.

A National Conversation

Belizeans should demand that their leaders stop merely raking sargassum into piles and calling it a strategy.

This is our moment to be bold:

• To create a new industry.
• To lessen dependence on imports.
• To show that even in the face of an ecological challenge, Belize can innovate rather than surrender.

Because sargassum is coming—whether we act or not.

The only question is whether we will let it bury our beaches and our ambitions…

Or whether we will finally seize this golden tide as the opportunity it truly is.