Press Release, Belmopan, Belize, September 5, 2025 ─ The Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) awarded BZ$3,267,756.70 in grants to support four subprojects under its Building Community Resilience via Transformative Adaptation project (EDA Project). The agreements were signed on August 29, 2025, during Belize’s first-ever Climate Finance Forum hosted by the Ministry of Economic Transformation.
Financed through the Adaptation Fund’s Enhanced Direct Access facility, a locally led adaptation funding window, the project aims to improve Belize’s long-term capacity to protect communities from the impacts of climate change. The new subprojects, outlined below, are expected to directly impact 48,424 persons across 15 communities in Belize over the next five years.
In February 2025, PACT awarded grants for four other subprojects currently being implemented by the Belmopan City Council, Sarteneja Village Council, Belize Forest Department, and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, and BELTRAIDE. Together, the eight subprojects total BZ$10 million and target five interconnected components critical to building community resilience. These include:
Component One: Safeguarding Forest and Water Resources through Strategic Protection and Restoration Solutions
Component Two: Combating Wildfires through Adaptive Management
Component Three: Creating Opportunities to Support Alternative Livelihoods
Component Four: Building National Capacity to Access Adaptation Finance
Component Five: Community Disaster Risk Management
PACT serves as Belize’s national implementing entity to the Adaptation Fund. In this role, PACT accesses, administers, and implements resources for the EDA Project, an on-granting mechanism for in-country climate finance.
About the Protected Areas Conservation Trust
The Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) is a statutory organization established as a Trust Fund under the Protected Areas Conservation Trust Act, Chapter 218 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020. PACT sources funds nationally and internationally to finance the sustainable management and development of Belize’s natural and cultural heritage through partnership and in collaboration with government agencies, non-governmental and community-based organizations that manage Belize’s National Protected Areas System. Through its accreditation to international climate financing institutions, PACT also provides access to funding for climate adaptation and mitigation projects.
