A wise woman by the name of Margaret Mead once said, "We won't have a society if we destroy the environment." Every society is different and has a unique aspect of its environment that lures and attracts people to it. A society of such small magnitude like Belize should take into serious consideration the importance of a healthy and rich environment. The environment is not only limited to our beautiful and flourished forests, but also the animals and their habitat. Belizeans tend to forget the significance of the marine wildlife which results in negative impacts on the society. For example, Tilapia farming has become a new industry that is beginning to appeal to the Belizean public. So far it has been on a rise; however, there are different issues and risks that come along with such businesses. In fact, having an environment that is rich in marine animals is vital for the progress of a country, especially for one such as Belize. For that reason it is necessary to implement laws in a growing industry like Tilapia Farming otherwise there will be a drastic decrease in biodiversity, an uprising social problem and it will also be detrimental to the development of a larger industry; tourism. .
A lack of an ecological environment is tremendously disadvantageous to Belize's growing economy. And not having the right laws as well as the enforcement in place to ensure that the ecological environment remains rich can and will be a setback to the economy and a catastrophe with serious repercussions to our small country. Belize is endowed with a very high level of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity and the largest unbroken barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere (Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment). Having different kinds of species is vital for Belize because we thrive on our marine wildlife. Careless Tilapia Farming is a threat to other organisms in the water bodies which will eventually lead to extinction of those organisms.
