Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef is a Project Hotbed

The Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef (MACR) is the largest reef system in the Americas, snaking nearly 700 kilometers along the coastline from the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, past Belize and Guatemala and terminating off the north coast of Honduras.

The MACR is a complex tapestry of interconnected ecosystems, including barrier and fringing reefs, atolls and patch corals, sea grass beds and mangrove systems. The reefs supports myriad varieties of sea life, including the largest population of manatees in the western Caribbean, crocodiles, sea turtles, more than 60 species of corals, as well as the expected variety of fish native to the Caribbean. From a cultural and economic perspective, the MACR fills many roles: tourist attraction, commercial fishery that sustains local population and visitors. The reefs also serve as a natural defense against coastal erosion and hurricanes.

As is the case with reef systems around the globe, the MACR faces ongoing threats that have the potential to powerfully impact humans and other species that depend on healthy reef ecosystems for their survival. The World Wildlife Fund places the threats to the MACR into the following categories (more or less ordered according to importance):

Coastal habitat loss from land conversion and inadequate coastal development, primarily caused by unregulated growth of tourism and agricultural activities.

Water pollution from sedimentation, nutrients, agrochemicals, urban and industrial wastes, and contaminants spilled from vessels.

Unsustainable fishing practices that cause the loss of populations of species of commercial value, destroy reefs with trawl fishing and cause by-catch of accompanying fauna.

Bleaching and coral diseases that have led to the loss of vast areas of reef throughout the Caribbean.

More frequent storms and hurricanes, probably due to global climate change, causing damage to the physical structure of the reef.

Creating a co-coordinated approach to managing the MACR is an epic challenge: four national governments are necessarily in the mix, with local states and municipal governments also at the table with often competing agendas and varying levels of commitment. A turning point was reached in 1997 with the signing of the Tulum Declaration by the Heads of State of Belize, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. In the two years following the Declaration the four governments developed an Action Plan for the MACR that followed through – on paper, at least – with tangible commitments to “safeguard, conserve and achieve common development objectives in the region.”

The Action Plan – which provided a roadmap for a comprehensive, 15-year program of regional and national level activities aimed at safeguarding the integrity and productivity of the MACR – was adopted in June, 1999.

National activities outlined in the plan recognized that the needs and capacities within each country varied, and focused primarily on creating evaluation metrics, and legislative and enforcement frameworks. Regional activities outlined in the plan focused on four thematic areas: Research and Monitoring, Legislation, Capacity Building and Regional Coordination.

Ten years later, all but the most critical observers say the programs implemented as a direct and indirect result of the Tulum Declaration have had positive and measurable effects. The impetus provided by the declaration resulted in a groundswell of activity in the region, however with so many projects completed or ongoing it’s difficult for interested observers who are not part of the research, government or aligned NGO community to get a handle on who’s doing what, where and whether collectively the programs are having the desired effect – protecting the reef systems.

Over the coming weeks, d5o will take a closer look at specific projects underway on the MACR with the objective of distilling some of the science into digestible nuggets of understanding for the non-PhD crowd.