Building Resilience in Belizean Communities

A brief overview of I2UD’s work in the Belize Municipal Development Program.

Our recently completed World Bank-funded project in Belize (2013-2014), illustrates our integrated approach to planning with smaller municipalities. One of the smallest countries in Latin America, Belize’s national urbanization rate of 3.1% per annum is now the third highest in the region – significant for a country whose urban population is one of the lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean. Belize’s cities and towns must cope with the challenges of this rapid growth, as migrants look to cities for new opportunities.

In July 2014 I2UD completed an 18-month project to support the drafting of municipal development plans for seven municipalities in Belize. An inter-disciplinary team from the Institute supported Local Planning Working Groups (LPWGs) in the municipalities of Belmopan, Benque Viejo del Carmen, Corozal, Dangriga, Orange Walk, Punta Gorda and San Ignacio/Santa Elena to draft their own plans to address existing urban conditions as well as ensure sustainable future growth by 2030. The I2UD team, working closely with the Belize Social Investment Fund and an Urban Planning Officer, held workshops, designed training modules tailored to each chapter in the plan and provided hands-on technical assistance in the field. The training increased the professional capacity of the LPWGs and filled gaps in the technical know-how of their members. Our team’s urban planners and associated local GIS specialists successfully worked with stakeholders and local communities to identify and map environmentally sensitive and ecological conservation zones, as well as areas vulnerable to climate change including flood risk zones and areas exposed to sea-level rise. You can browse project documents and the final Municipal Development Plans here.

In 2015, I2UD will research and formulate resiliency strategies for an at-risk coastal community in Belize, limited in its financial and institutional capacity to address impacts of flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change. This project, with support from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, will build on the Institute’s recently completed work on developing Municipal Development Plans in seven municipalities. An important objective will be to consider strategies to integrate resiliency into local land use planning and management.

To learn more about our approach to resiliency in urban planning, click here.