Belize Botanic Gardens, BBG, is 45 acres (18.2 ha) of native and exotic plants growing in the Cayo

Cayo District

Cayo District is a district in the west of the nation of Belize. The District capital is the town of San Ignacio.- Geography :The Cayo District is the largest district in Belize. It is located on the western side of the country which borders Guatemala. The nation's capital, Belmopan, is...

 district of western Belize

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

. The garden is in a valley on the banks of the Macal River

Macal River

The Macal River is a river running through Cayo District in western Belize. Sites along the river include the ancient Mayan town of Cahal Pech and the Belize Botanic Gardens. The Macal River discharges to the Belize River...

, surrounded by the Maya Mountain foothills.

The main focus of BBG is encouraging sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...

, maintaining conservation

Conservation movement

The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....

 collections and engaging in conservation education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

. They aim to inspire visitors to protect plants and their habitats by learning more about the world of plants.

Mayan archaeological sites in the vicinity include Chaa Creek

Chaa Creek

Chaa Creek is a tributary of the Macal River in the Cayo District in western Belize. One of the official gauging stations of the Macal is located near the confluence with Chaa Creek. There are also Maya ruins that remain largely unexcavated in the Chaa Creek catchment basin; certain early...

, Cahal Pech

Cahal Pech

Cahal Pech is a Maya site located near the Town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was a hilltop palacio home for an elite Maya family, and though most major construction dates to the Classic period, evidence of continuous habitation has been dated to as far back as far as 1200...

 and Xunantunich

Xunantunich

Xunantunich is a Maya archaeological site in western Belize, about 80 miles west of Belize City , in the Cayo District. Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, within sight of the Guatemala border...

.