Belize | Good News For Humankind

Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St Vincent launch EU-style deal to let citizens work freely across borders

By Peter Schulte / October 2, 2025 / Good News For Humankind

This groundbreaking pact has created a new, flexible labor market across the Caribbean. Citizens of Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St Vincent can now live and work in any of the four countries without needing complex work permits. This freedom of movement is expected to significantly boost regional economic resilience by addressing labor shortages. The initiative also strengthens social ties and promotes family stability across the participating nations.

Aerial view of dense tropical rainforest canopy for an article about Mayan forest protection

Three nations sign agreement to protect 14 million acres of Mayan forest

By Peter Schulte / August 21, 2025 / Good News For Humankind

Mayan forest protection took a historic step forward on August 15, 2025, when the leaders of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize signed an agreement to safeguard more than 14 million acres of tropical forest as the Great Mayan Jungle Biocultural Corridor. The deal covers the Selva Maya, the largest continuous tropical forest in the Americas north of the Amazon, anchored in part by Belize’s biodiverse Bladen Nature Reserve. What sets this agreement apart is its formal integration of Indigenous Maya governance into conservation oversight, recognizing that cultural stewardship and ecological protection are inseparable. Significant challenges remain, but the commitment represents one of the most ambitious multilateral conservation efforts in the Western Hemisphere.

Belize certified malaria-free by WHO

By Peter Schulte / June 21, 2023 / Good news links

Over the last 3 decades, Belize has achieved a dramatic reduction in its malaria burden – from a peak of about 10 000 cases in 1994 to zero indigenous cases in 2019.

Germany to return Mayan ancient artifacts to Guatemala and Mexico

By Peter Schulte / November 3, 2021 / Good news links

The historic objects were discovered last year in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The owner says he bought them at a flea market in Leipzig in 2003 not knowing where they came from.

Community coral planting restores Belize’s expansive reefs

By Peter Schulte / May 18, 2021 / Good news links

So far, 85,000 corals have been planted in the area and the coral cover of the seafloor in the park increased from 6% to 50% between 2010 to 2017.

230,000 acres of tropical rainforest in Belize protected as biodiversity hotspot

By Peter Schulte / April 27, 2021 / Good news links

This new protected area is contiguous with and nearly doubles the size of the adjacent Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. Combined, it represents 9% of the landmass of Belize and secures a vital wildlife corridor.

Underwater looking up at sun|milos prelevic unsplash

The Belize Barrier Reef – the world’s second largest coral reef – is removed from endangered list

By Peter Schulte / July 10, 2018 / Good news links

The World Heritage Committee credited Belize’s safeguarding measures as the cause for the historic conservational victory.

Belize ends oil operations in its ocean waters

By Peter Schulte / January 8, 2018 / Good news links

The legislation marks the first time that a developing country has taken such a major step to protect its oceansand all the from oil exploration and extraction.

Flag of Belize, for article on Belize independence

Belize gains independence from Britain after more than a century of colonial rule

By Peter Schulte / September 21, 1981 / Archive of Human Genius

Belize independence arrived on September 21, 1981, when a new flag rose over the small Central American nation after more than a century of British rule. The path ran through self-government in 1964 and a name change from British Honduras in 1973, led by George Price. Sovereignty, long overdue, for a land whose Maya roots stretch back millennia.

David Cox - Pirate's Isle painting, for article on Belize Town founding

English lumber harvesters establish Belize Town on a Maya site

By Peter Schulte / January 1, 1638 / Archive of Human Genius

Belize City traces its roots to 1638, when English loggers set up a trading post at the mouth of Haulover Creek to float logwood and mahogany out to the Caribbean. The site wasn’t empty — a Maya settlement called Holzuz was already there. Nearly four centuries on, it remains Belize’s largest city and a layered meeting point of Maya, African, Garifuna, and Mestizo histories.