Leaving Ambergris Caye on Wednesday, we hung up our dive gear for a few days and dedicated Thursday and Friday to meeting with the people here who set policy, do the science and ultimately will decide the fate of Belize’s natural areas. Our first order of business, though, was to pick up our fearless leader, Dr. Sylvia Earle, who had just flown in from Paris and the premiere of the new film by renowned filmmaker Jacques Perrin, Ocean.

We were ably hosted by the Nature Conservancy’s Alejandro Martinez, who drove us to the landlocked capitol of Belmopan for the launch of the University of Belize’s new Environmental Research Institute (ERI). Dr. Earle joined Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega and ERI’s dynamic duo—Institute Science Directors Dr.…