Oil, the Ocean, and Democracy — Belize Shows the Way Forward
Belize passed a law in late 2023 requiring that any decision to open its ocean up to oil and gas drilling must first be approved by the Belizean people through a national referendum. The world should take notice.
Why?
Belize is home to 40% of the world’s second largest reef. A third of its economy is driven by tourism and fisheries. Its culture — the people’s pride in what it means to be Belizean — is deeply tied to the Caribbean Sea, and its extraordinary resources, beauty, and healing power.
Offshore fossil fuel development would irreversibly change that. If it is to be permitted, this momentous decision should not be made privately, in a conversation between oil company executives and a few government officials. It should be debated fully and openly and honor the will of the majority of the people of Belize.
A national referendum will assure that happens.
This is a big change from the way ocean oil leasing is typically done. In a process that only oil company executives can like, most countries issue oil leases without explicit prior public approval. Americans will remember President Trump’s astonishing announcement that he would end thirty years of precedent and open the entire American ocean off both the east and west coasts for leasing to the international oil companies. Under American laws still in force today, the President has enormous discretion to put oil rigs, and the spills and pollution that always go along with them, off a beach near you. Campaigning by Oceana and its allies engaged the public, including businesses that depend on clean coasts. This allowed us to stop Trump’s march to drill but there won’t always be an organized coalition able to do this. Belize won something better.
Proudly democratic citizens demand that their government serves them, not the oil companies.
Belizeans know that the benefits of oil are short term, and the rewards of a healthy, productive, and abundant ocean are permanent. U.S. experience with this industry also shows that the oil industry’s “get rich” pitch is not to be trusted. Four of the five American states with the highest poverty rates all are among the top 15 states in crude oil production per capita (Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and West Virginia).
In a thriving democracy, a decision of this magnitude is subject to popular sovereignty. And that’s why Belize’s government has formally legislated that “people power” will be at the center of decisions about the long-term future of its reef, its ocean, and the livelihoods that its resources sustain.
To do otherwise is not only an invitation to petty corruption. It is an invitation to popular cynicism about their governments. It helps propel the voter disaffection we see rising across much of the western world’s democracies.
Averting catastrophic climate change requires that the fossil fuel industry be brought under popular control. Voter referenda on proposals for big new fossil fuel projects are a tool for democratic societies to get this done. Citizens in other countries similar to Belize can demand referenda on offshore oil and gas development and other major developments that would compromise their healthy coastal economies.
For example, a few years back the Bahamas Petroleum Company was poised to begin oil and gas development in significant reservoirs shared with the U.S. While this exploration has so far been stopped, the industry is likely waiting for a future moment to try again. There are other island states where this is likely to be the case.
Under the United Nations Law of the Sea, coastal states have exclusive control over marine resources out to 200 nautical miles off their coasts. As a result, if adopted by other countries, the Belizean referendum mechanism can protect a substantial share of the world’s oceans from offshore oil and gas development through a series of country-by-country decisions. The popular referendum right could also apply to other proposals for big coastal developments that permanently destroy and degrade natural marine resources, such as new and expanded ports for big cruise ships, dredge and fill projects, the creation of artificial islands, and/or the installation of industrial-scale salmon farms.
This will not be easy. The oil industry can be counted on to try to deny voters the right to prior approval of offshore drilling. It will use its formidable leverage with policymakers and run countless advertisements that make industrial scale oil development look like a holiday calendar from your favorite organic farmer or your local insurance agent. But the fight is worth it. Even in defeat, the oil referendum fight will unmask the oil industry’s fundamental disrespect for transparency and popular sovereignty.
The oil industry wrecks coastal economies with its oil spills and pollution, and destroys our planet by driving climate change. It should be required to first ask voters if this catastrophic price is worth it.
Belize is showing the way.
By Andrew Sharpless, Oceana CEO, and Janelle Chanona, Vice President for Oceana in Belize
