Will U.S. Continue Funding Belize’s Climate Projects?

Earlier this week, the United States held its 2024 presidential election, with Republican candidate Donald J. Trump emerging victorious over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. During his previous term, Trump limited interactions with Belize and other smaller developing nations. Throughout his campaign, he pushed for reduced government spending. His policy blueprint, Project 2025, even proposed cutting funds for climate-resilient projects abroad. Although Trump has since distanced himself from this plan, questions linger about whether the U.S. will continue supporting Belize’s environmental initiatives and stay committed to the Paris Agreement. We spoke with Minister of Sustainable Development, Orlando Habet, to get his take on the matter. Here’s what he had to say.

 

Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development

“Difficult to tell what will happen, but I believe that and they have in a State Department, I think, that some of their commitments that are on the table might continue. We don’t know what the President will do in the next few days, and whether or not he’ll make decisions now before he takes over in January. But if we know about Project 25, and Project 25 will practically state that they will withdraw from the Paris Agreement that is a problem because they have some contributions to make. And also because they are one of the biggest emitters, they are responsible for coming up with some of the funding for the developing countries. I think I read somewhere also that they might withdraw some funding from projects like USAID, which is bad for us also because we are also recipients of some of that funding. But it seems to me though that he has different been put together that might advise him to do otherwise different from what he did in the first term. But who am I to say what he will do, right? But we are hopeful still. I think the relationship that we have with the United States of America has been practically on level ground, whether our administration changes in Belize or whether their administration changes in the U.S..”