John Travolta gave an enthusiastic two thumbs up as Domenico Giannini showed the pair pictures of the construction in progress that was printed on a huge table
Puerto Azul Luxury Resort Promises 'Environment First' at Lighthouse Reef Development
PuertoAzul Belize dubbed Citadel of Luxury; plans for F1 track and amphitheater
As the 2014 Cannes Film Festival is starting to wind down, reports indicate the ultra-posh PuertoAzul Exclusive Resorts party was the place to be this year. Formal invitations to the May 21 bash, called "PuertoAzul Experience," went to noted celebrities and global socialites.
Click here for the whole article in the Examiner....
Blue Hole Natural Monument and Half Moon Caye Natural Monument are both located within Lighthouse Reef Atoll and Puerto Azul Exclusive Resorts and Hotel is a proposed development just north of these two sites on Northern Two Caye and Sanbore Caye. Puerto Azul boasts to be a luxurious eco-development that, above all, will be very environmentally conscious, sustainable and pro-active. But like most developments in pristine and reserve areas of Belize, it is receiving quite the negative feedback and causing quite a stir within environmentalists and concerned citizens.
Show business talent and product manager Oscar Generale and businessman Domenico Giannini - the president of Puerto Azul Exclusive Resorts & Hotels have just recently hosted a star-studded Puerto Azul Experience at Villa Saint Georges at the Cannes Film Festival to promote the new luxury resort in Belize.
Special guests to the exclusive event included Belize's Minister of Tourism, Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. and Belize Minister of Investment Promotion & Private Sector Development, Hon. Erwin Contreras.
Special guests to the exclusive event included Belize's Minister of Tourism, Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. and Belize Minister of Investment Promotion & Private Sector Development, Hon. Erwin Contreras.
Environmentalists are strongly opposing the project as they believe it will have a major negative impact on the reef eco system. Here are a few concern of their concerns:
- Northern Two Caye is one of two cayes in the Lighthouse Reed Atoll with mangroves
- Shredding all mangrove will destroy the nursery habitat for all the fishes
- Belize has one of the largest Nassau grouper spawning aggregation just outside of Sanbore Caye
- Northern Two Caye and Sanbore Caye are two protected areas which are components of the World Heritage Site
- Massive Dredging will impact the fishing industry- destroying sea grass beds, conch population in the area, and mangrove ecosystem
- Blue Hole is an icon for Belize and if any sedimentation or silt or massive development is to happen, there will be some devastating impact to the Blue Hole and Halfmoon Caye
But developers from Puerto Azul state that they have no interest in tarnishing the gem, but do quite the opposite and that is to polish it and make it shine as bright as possible - environment first. Although the project is just at the stage of submitting an Environmental Impact Assessment, with no actual development taking place yet, they have started cleaning up the area and protecting turtle nesting sites.
Developers state that they are bringing in the best and highly accredited environmental firms to do all the necessary studies and using the latest in technology to protect, preserve and enhance the environment in which it will be located as the demographic of their clientele they are targeting are also very environmentally conscious.
"We are very positive about the outcome," stated one of their representatives to Ambergris Today. "These developers are going to help the entire country develop properly. They will be investing in preservation, propagation and enforcement of protected areas around the country."
Mass celebrity photos and more information here: Daily Mail
Also, more information in the Ambergris Today
And in the Examiner
Shane Young, Marine Protected Areas Manager, Belize Audubon
"What we need to understand is that those two protected areas are components of the World Heritage Site�two out of the seven that makes up the World Heritage Site. In terms of development at Northern Two Cayes, there will be some impact in terms of the fishing industry. We are talking about massive dredging if that is the case. Lighthouse Reef Atoll on a whole has a healthy sea grass bed and if silt and sedimentation is to happen due to dredging, definitely it will have an impact on the sea grass bed. We all know basic ecology that the sea grass provides nursery grounds for the fishery and especially the commercial conch. Lighthouse Reef has a healthy conch population and definitely there will be some impact to the fishing industry. In terms of the mangrove ecosystem, Lighthouse Reef Atoll has five islands, five main cayes and out of those five, you have two that comprises of mangrove ecosystem. And again if you remove one, there will definitely be an impact on the fishing industry considering that the mangrove provide habitat for the fisheries as well. When you look at it at a tourism stand point, we have stakeholders from San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Placencia, the Turneffe Atoll that depend on the services provided by Blue Hole. Its natural service is that Blue Hole is an icon for Belize and if any sedimentation or silt or massive development is to happen, there will be some devastating impact to the Blue Hole and Halfmoon Caye. Considering that Blue Hole and Halfmoon Caye; they are popular dive sites and if heavy development will occur, what happens in the marine system is that point A affects point B. And considering that Blue Hole and Halfmoon Caye is just south of Northern Two Cayes where the development is proposed to happen, there could be some impact on the reef system within these protected areas."
It is difficult for small boats to navigate the channel, so there is a possibility of the coral reef system been blown up at the northern point of the Light House Reef Atoll, to create a channel way to accommodate vessels to enter the proposed Mariner at Northern 2 Cayes. Running aground and damaging the reef are only some of the risks associated with Puerto Azul development.
Advocacy Program Manager, Belize Audubon Society
"There are nesting grounds on Sanborn for protected turtles. Our biologist goes out there and gets data on nesting turtles out there."
Jose Sanchez
"When you talk aobut two thousand employees and a thousand guests, you have the issue of waste material; just the simple use of soaps. Where does all that go?"
Advocacy Program Manager, Belize Audubon Society
"Right. It is quite a distance from land. We anticipate that there will be solid waste issues. Again this was a project proposal and we would like to hope that the EIA preparer will advise the developer to size and scale. We want responsible development, sustainable development. We understand that there is a need for investment in the country, but we want that investment to be smart because at the end of the day, some of our more beautiful icon features are the most valuable and the most vulnerable."
Does the availability of jobs outweigh the possible damage to the environment?
Celebrities and Ministers Erwin Contreras and Manuel Heredia show support at the Cannes Film Festival in France for the Puerto Azul Project.
Belizean politician Erwin Contreras with John Travolta.