Site: Barrier Reef System of Central America
Type of Partnership: Enabling activity for small business development in support of conservation.
Website(s): http://www.icran.org/icranmar/mar_home.html
Contact Name: Liza Karina Agudelo, Project Coordinator
Phone: +(501)223-4673
Email: laquedelo@icran.org
Address:

The Mesoamerican Reef system stretches over 625 miles of coastline spanning eastern coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. It is the largest reef in the Western Hemisphere and has been identified as a unique and globally important coral reef ecosystem. Human populations in each of the Mesoamerican Reef's adjoining countries rely on the diverse habitats and nearby terrestrial environs for much of their livelihood and sustenance. Unfortunately evidence indicates that it is under severe natural and human induced threat.

The International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), established in the year 2000, through generous support from the United Nations Foundation (UNF), is a collaborative effort working to halt and reverse the decline in health of the world's coral reefs. In support of the ICRAN Mesoamerican Reef Alliance, the UN Foundation has pledged $1.5 million to undertake activities in the three project components of Watershed Management, Sustainable Fisheries, and Sustainable Tourism. Given the strong interest in the Mesoamerican Reef by the United States' government (as is evident from its multi-year dedicated support through the USAID PROARCA program, the New Opportunity Alliance and The Nature Conservancy's Mesoamerican Reef Initiative) in March 2002, the UNF and ICRAN requested from USAID an additional $1.5 million to complement this important effort. USAID's and UNF's funds will support the Mesoamerican Reef Alliance with UNF/ICRAN. This alliance will allow USAID Guatemala/Central American Programs to bring new partners and international expertise into the region to promote economically and environmentally sound management of the reef, and to strategically engage major components of the private sector.

A primary objective of ICRAN activities in the Wider Caribbean is to build the capacity on the ground for sustainable management of coral reefs, emphasizing the role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), local communities and the tourism sector. To this end a number of regional and local activities are being implemented including promotion of better practices, training, coral reef monitoring and assessments, mapping of MPAs and their habitats, and public awareness-building targeted mostly to decision-makers and developers. In the case of proposed ICRAN activities in the MAR, ICRAN will work in close coordination and collaboration with the GEF/MBRS and USAID PROARCA programs which share common objectives with ICRAN and are key stakeholders in Central America.

source: UNEP