February, 2009
Global warming may be creating the conditions for more frequent and severe hurricanes. In Belize, meanwhile, WWF is fighting to preserve nature’s best defence – the magnificent Mesoamerican reef.
The Mesoamerican reef is a sanctuary for iconic and endangered Loggerhead, Hawksbill and Green sea turtles, and the vulnerable Caribbean manatee. Its warm sapphire waters harbour more than 500 species of fish, 60 species of coral and 350 molluscs.
The mangroves roots bind the shoreline together, protecting the land from erosion, and act as a filter system which helps to protect the ocean from pollution. Here, too, is the nursery for many of the region’s fish.
A recent report from WWF and The World Resources Institute showed the extent to which the reef and the mangroves sustain local people and the national economy.
The study found that the estimated monetary value of coral reef and mangrove-associated tourism in Belize was between US$150 million and US$196 million a year. That’s between 12% and 15% of the Caribbean nation’s entire Gross Domestic Product. Benefits from reef and mangrove-dependent fisheries contribute another US$14 million to US$16 million to the economy.
The reef and the mangrove also form the mainland’s first and second lines of defence against tropical storms and hurricanes. The reef’s defensive effect is estimated to be worth US$120 million to US$180 million in avoided damages each year. The mangroves protect the coastline from both waves and storm surge, providing an additional US$111 million to US$167 million in protection annually.
Storms and hurricanes regularly batter this coastline and there is increasing evidence that climate change is making events like this more common. Warm water helps create the conditions for hurricanes, and the fact that the water at the Mesoamerican reef is getting warmer is obvious to those who live and work there.
When seawater over the reef warms, the corals which make it up suffer stress and expel the tiny micro-organisms they are host to. The resulting loss of colour is evident as ‘coral bleaching’. Whole areas of coral become pale white and lifeless.
At the same time that the reef is being affected by these changes, development, some of it for hotels, is causing whole areas of mangrove to be removed from the coastline.
In response, WWF, The Nature Conservancy, the Healthy Mesoamerican Reef Ecosystem Initiative (HMREI) and other local partners have together studied, assessed and mapped the state of coral at more than 300 sites on the reef.
And WWF is working on a Meso American Reef adaptation project, in partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID). One of the ambitions of this is to ensure the network of marine reserves protecting the region’s varied habitats, including the coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass, includes areas better able to cope under climate-stressed conditions.
These may become refuges provided climate change effects do not become so severe as to destroy the coral reefs completely.
The team has identified locations, currently unprotected, that were less affected or better able to recover from the last bleaching episode, and that are therefore areas that may be more resilient to future bleaching events.
In the meantime, thousands of mangrove trees have been replanted by teams of local people, working in partnership with WWF, some of them installed specifically to help filter waste from local shrimp farms.
WWF is also working to promote more sensitive shoreline development. This has included helping to re-start proper coastal planning for the island of San Pedro and a ‘Mangrove‑Friendly Shoreline Development Contest’.
The contest celebrates docks, homes, piers, and other structures that have done their best to retain the ecosystem services of mangrove shorelines will be featured in local and international publications.
And we are trying to eliminate destructive fishing practices and overfishing by making local communities more aware.
Through the Climate Witness programme and related lobbying activities local people will get the chance to bring this global issue to the attention of local, regional, national and international authorities.
It’s an outstanding case of local conservation helping local people of Belize – and at the same time helping all of us.