Godwin Hulse

Representing the Government of Belize was Minister Godwin Hulse.� With responsibility for National Emergency Management, some eventualities the result of climate change, Hulse says the partnership between Belize and the EU is fruitful.

Godwin Hulse, NEMO Minister

"As you know, climate change is a significant issue for the whole world and let me turn the phrase around, the climate is changing.� We don't want to capture it as climate change as though it is a package of something, climate is changing.� Look at today, for example, this is the middle of May, we should have very hot sunlight, it should be roasting.� We have a cold front, the rains began earlier this year.� And so, this partnership with the European Union, this project managed by UNDP and specifically the Global Climate Change Alliance is terribly important because it is helping us to develop the kind of resilience and to mitigate and to be prepared for the effects that this type of weather change would bring, increased flooding, droughts, etc�� As you have heard, the cattle farmers in the River Valley are benefiting, that is terribly important.� This year during the flood, NEMO had to assist farmers to move their cattle, paying tremendously to have them back and forth.� You all will recall the situation we had with Crooked Tree where we had to be ferrying people back and forth because of the tremendous rain.� For us at NEMO, the gift of both boats, and I'd like you to capture them, the boats are fantastic.� Again, it will help us in this very same effort and reduce our cost that we've been paying because also we need to move around and we need to move around swiftly and quickly."

Europe Day also coincides with the start of operations of the Visa Information System in North and Central America, the Caribbean and Australasia.� VIS is a central database which supports the exchange of data on short-stay visas between Schengen States.

Channel 5