Belize

provide infrastructure and are described in Chapter V -A.
The GOB should encourage foreign assistance by identifying
and qualifying conservation projects that will improve
the quality of life as well as aid economic development.
Few potential private investors are likely to be deterred
in their desire to undertake a project in Belize if they
are asked to comply with clear, concise and standardized
regulations and procedures; these should actually make
them more comfortable as they will know there are no
hidden dangers to ownership. Some international assistance
agencies such as USAID and World Bank provide technical
evaluations of potential development projects.
Cultural change is affected from within the culture.
'::ertain types of legislation will help improve health and
sanitation if education helps define the positive aspects of
the law. Additionally, government programs to improve
health anci sanitation do not change the culture; such
changes are only improvements in the quality of life. Once
an improvement is accepted by a group as beneficial, reverting
to less agreeable living conditions is unlikely, especially
if the government continues to support the improvements.
Marijuana is a major unquantified export from Belize
to the United States. Drug production and transshipment
are lucrative businesses. Though an increasing number of
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Belizeans and foreigllers earn their livelihood in these
pursuits. the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is trying
to reduce trafficking by U.S. citizens, as well as identifying
and destroying marijuana fields with paraquat. The GOB
has been cooperating with the USDEA to reduce marijuana
production and export.
Environmental Data Base
It is difficult to obtain reliable and timely information
on natural resources or environment-related issues in
Belize. The inaccuracy or absence of base line data coupled
with inadequate data processing and retrieval systems
cannot be overstated. Though it is not easy to correct long
standing problems, the primary steps should be to train
data processing personnel, data coller.tors, and technical
reviewers who will help assure that the processed data is
correct and up to date. Environment and natural resources
access files should be open and available at Belmopan.
Since the GOB would be financially unable to provide
such an improvement program, assistance should be sought
from outside agencies. Without the ability to store and retrieve
data, the effectiveness of all GOB programs is
seriously limited.