Triangle
home The project About the team Latest news
home

Integrated ClimAte Resilience UnderStanding (ICARUS) Belize is a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2021-288). It is based in the UK bringing together Belizean and Mexican researchers to develop a new approach to understanding how we can build resilience to climate change by learning from both the past and the present.

The project aligns with number of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs) including SDG17 – Partnerships for the goals, SDG15 - Life on land and SDG13 – Climate action.

Belize is classified as a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) with a political alignment to the Caribbean, despite being located in Central America. Increasing temperatures, decreasing rainfall, more intense tropical storms, and droughts make Belize highly vulnerable.

Hurricane activity has been on the rise since the 1970s, and Belize has experienced the direct or indirect impact of multiple hurricanes, including Nana, Eta (Figure 1), and Iota in 2020. Droughts are also becoming increasingly severe. The intensity of the 2019 drought resulted in crop losses and the declaration of a partial state of emergency.

This situation presents an opportunity to develop innovative approaches for comprehensively assessing resilience to climate change, which can be valuable not only to other SIDS but also to similar areas with limited monitoring and research infrastructure and economies that are highly exposed to climate risks.

En Español...
 
a), b) and c) Trajectory of Hurricane Eta 2022; d) Flooding at San Ignacio, Belize after Eta

Figure 1. a), b) and c) Trajectory of Hurricane Eta 2022; d) Flooding at San Ignacio, Belize after Eta.

Figura 1 – a), b) y c) Trayectoria del huracán Eta 2022; d) Inundación en San Ignacio, Belice después de Eta.

 

 

Key project aims

The project aims to develop new ways of understanding climate resilience and how this changes over time.

Through the integration of information from Earth Observation data, meteorological instrumental records, local-community knowledge and experience, historical records and palaeoenvironmental data this will enable a deeper understanding of resilience to extreme climate events in Belize.

En Español...
 

 

The project

This project aims to develop a new approach to understanding resilience to extreme climate events in Belize by combining methods over a range of timescales.

Find out more about the project
About the team

The project is led by Professor Sarah Metcalfe at the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with colleagues within Nottingham, the University of Liverpool and the University of Stirling.

Find out more about the team
News

View the latest news updates from the Integrated ClimAte Resilience UnderStanding (ICARUS) Belize project.

View the latest news
 

 

 

Project team and collaborators

The project is led by Professor Sarah Metcalfe at the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with colleagues within Nottingham, the University of Liverpool and the University of Stirling.

It is a collaborative effort with the project partners and advisory panel (the Ya’axche Conservation Trust (Figure 2), the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise in Belize, ECOSUR in Mexico, Baylor University in USA and Northumbria University in the UK).

En Español...
 

 

Project team members (Miembros del equipo del proyecto)

Co-Investigators (Co-investigadores)

Postdoctoral researchers (Investigadores postdoctorales)

Steering Committee/Advisors (Panel de asesores)

  • Dr Donneil Cain - Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belize (Centro de Cambio Climático de la Comunidad del Caribe, Belice)
  • Christina Garcia - Ya'axche Conservation Trust, Belize
  • Dr Julie Hoggarth - Baylor University, USA (Universidad de Baylor, EE.UU.)
  • Ina Iris Sanchez - Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Belize now University of Belize (Ministerio de Agricultura, Seguridad Alimentaria y Empresa, Belice, ahora Universidad de Belice)
  • Dr Birgit Schmook (ECOSUR, Mexico)
  • Professor Bronwen Whitney - Northumbria University, UK (Universidad de Northumbria, Reino Unido)
Meeting with Ya'axche Conservation Trust, during the first fieldwork

Figure 2. Meeting with Ya'axche Conservation Trust, during the first fieldwork (January 2023).

Figura 2. Reunión con Ya'axche Conservation Trust durante el primer trabajo de campo (enero 2023).

 

Affiliations (Afiliaciones)

 

 

 

Get in touch (Contacto)

sarah.metcalfe@nottingham.ac.uk

Get social (Redes sociales)

Follow us on Twitter @ICARUS_Belize