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Leonardo DiCaprio’s Blackadore Caye eco-resort project stalls as campaigners offer fierce opposition

Posted: Monday, December 12, 2022. 10:54 am CST.

By Aaron Humes: The Sun (UK) reports in its U.S. edition that development of the Blackadore Caye eco-resort proposed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio has stalled but is not dead, with a projected completion date of late 2023 – eight years after it was first purchased.

According to the Top Hotel News website, Blackadore Caye will now feature 116 rooms, comprising 68 villas, 48 estate off-the-grid homes, and a private clubhouse. It added COVID lockdowns had created a pause in construction. It also says that half the island has been set aside as a protected wildlife preserve and intends to replant mangroves and replace invasive with native species, while the development will be “completely” powered by renewable energy.

DiCaprio, 48, told the New York Times when the development in partnership with New York City-based developer Delos was announced in 2015: “The main focus is to do something that will change the world. “I couldn’t have gone to Belize and built on an island and done something like this if it weren’t for the idea that it could be groundbreaking in the environmental movement.”

But campaigners have warned the project if continued would be an environmental “disaster,” with scientists at leading fisheries protection organization the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust begging the Oscar-winning actor to preserve the wild, unpopulated 104-acre sandbar which he acquired in 2005 with a partner for US$1.75 million after a scuba diving trip to Belize’s coral reefs.

These activists dispute claims that the scheme’s planned attractions – villas, world-class restaurants, and a Deepak Chopra Center for Renewal and Anti-Aging – would be “restorative” and “heal” the island. They say that if the extravagant project goes ahead, it will be a catastrophe for marine life in the waters surrounding the Caye, which attracts fly fishermen who bring in $55 million a year to Belize.

Dr. Aaron Adams, the Miami-based Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s science and conservation director, referred to the project in an interview as greenwashing, adding, “It will be a disaster – habitat destruction that is an assault on the fishery.” Dr. Adams warned of problems ranging from dredging that he said is planned to construct sandy beaches on the island’s shores, to pollution and noise from boat traffic when the resort is complete.

In Belize, according to residents of nearby Ambergris Caye, “We ran a Defend Blackadore Caye page on Facebook with a photo showing him being hanged in effigy. People were bristling. They got really bent out of shape by the notion that he was going to ‘heal’ us by building an over-the-top resort for rich people.”

A leader of the protest, tour company operator Rebecca Arceo, added: “For DiCaprio to label this plan as environmentally conscious is just a sales pitch. He’s a complete hypocrite in my opinion. Fly fishing is a huge deal in Belize for the tourism industry. To call his plan green is totally disgusting.”

 

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