Belize.

How does Belize compare in Caribbean?

Scored Caribbean destinations, Eco Index.

The global top 10 of the 77 destinations scored

What is Belize particularly good at?

✓ Conservation, scored 5/5. The numbers are the best in our Caribbean coverage. 37.3 per cent of land and 20.4 per cent of territorial waters were protected as of 2024, the marine figure having jumped from 11 per cent since 2020. There are 119 protected areas, and 57 of them have management effectiveness evaluations, which is a far higher proportion than most of the region manages. The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was inscribed by UNESCO in 1996, put on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2009 over mangrove destruction, offshore oil and unsustainable building, and then removed from that danger list on 26 June 2018 after Belize imposed a moratorium on oil exploration across its entire maritime zone and strengthened mangrove protection. That is a country reversing course, and it is worth knowing. One honest qualifier: only 43 per cent of the protected area system is managed directly by government, the rest relying on co management, private reserves and community conserved areas. It is not a paper park system. It is an outsourced one.

✓ Culture, scored 5/5. Two living indigenous and Afro indigenous cultures, both with real legal and international standing. On 22 April 2015 the Caribbean Court of Justice issued a Consent Order in which the Government of Belize accepted that Maya customary land tenure exists across the entire Toledo District and gives rise to property rights under the Constitution, ordering a fund of BZ$300,000 as a first step. The ruling is binding. Delivery is disputed, and Cultural Survival has reported Belize failing to implement the orders, so we state both halves. The language, dance and music of the Garifuna were proclaimed by UNESCO in 2001 and inscribed on the Representative List in 2008. Garifuna Settlement Day on 19 November is marked by a re enactment in which descendants arrive singing and drumming in canoes. The Toledo Ecotourism Association, formed in 1990, is a self help organisation of 14 village associations running autonomously owned guesthouses across Mopan Maya, Q'eqchi' Maya, Garifuna and Creole villages, on a rotation so arrivals are shared out. Check it is still booking before you plan around it.

✓ Energy, scored 5/5. Belize generates close to 89 per cent of its electricity from renewables in 2023, chiefly hydropower and biomass from sugar-cane bagasse, and its emissions are very low at roughly 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per person. The country supplements domestic supply with imports from neighbouring Mexico, but its own generation mix is overwhelmingly clean. Belize has committed to further renewable expansion and forest-based climate action under its national plans. A clean grid combined with very low emissions places it in the top band.

Where does Belize score worst?

✕ Pollution, scored 3/5. The Environmental Protection (Pollution from Plastics) Regulations 2020 came into force on 15 January 2020, prohibiting single use styrofoam and plastic clamshells, plates, bowls, cups and lids, plastic cutlery, plastic shopping bags and plastic straws. Deadlines were extended twice, most recently by Statutory Instrument 17 of 2022, which made possession an offence from 31 March 2022. Recycling is the weak point. The draft national strategy put the share of solid waste separated for recycling at two per cent against a five per cent target, while noting that 81 per cent of Belize's rubbish is recyclable or biodegradable. The Mile 24 Regional Sanitary Landfill is the country's only operational sanitary landfill.

✕ Water, scored 3/5. 94.8 per cent of the population used at least basic drinking water services in 2024. Belize Water Services supplies the towns, drawing on rivers, springs and groundwater, with groundwater used in Corozal, Orange Walk, Cayo and Toledo. The mainland has real rainfall and real rivers. The cayes are the opposite: small, low and sandy, so Caye Caulker and Ambergris lean on catchment, desalination and shipped supply. Note that no verified national figure exists for safely managed drinking water, and the frequently repeated line that 70 per cent of Belize has safe tap water traces only to travel blogs, so we are not repeating it.

✕ Recycling, scored 2/5. The draft national strategy put the share of solid waste separated for recycling at two per cent against a five per cent target, while noting that 81 per cent of Belize's rubbish is recyclable or biodegradable. That gap is the whole story. The Mile 24 Regional Sanitary Landfill on the George Price Highway is the country's only operational sanitary landfill, fed by transfer stations at Corozal, Belize City, San Pedro, San Ignacio, Placencia and Dangriga.

Energy, 5/5

Belize generates close to 89 per cent of its electricity from renewables in 2023, chiefly hydropower and biomass from sugar-cane bagasse, and its emissions are very low at roughly 0.93 tonnes of CO2 per person. The country supplements domestic supply with imports from neighbouring Mexico, but its own generation mix is overwhelmingly clean.

Consequence: It is the lowest-scoring part of Belize's record, so it is where the score moves first.

Food and farming, 5/5

Belize grows most of what it eats, and that is rare in this region. The Food Systems Profile produced by the FAO with the EU and CIRAD, handed to the government in June 2022, puts domestic production at 60 per cent of consumption, so roughly 40 per cent is imported.

Consequence: It is the lowest-scoring part of Belize's record, so it is where the score moves first.

Heritage, 5/5

Belize holds deep, widely-alive heritage across several peoples. The Garifuna keep punta and punta rock, the sacred Dugu ancestral ceremony led by a buyei to honour and commune with ancestors, and drumming and hunguhungu, recognised by UNESCO in 2001 as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Consequence: It is the lowest-scoring part of Belize's record, so it is where the score moves first.