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Thursday, January 15th, 2009Just two months ago a study was released putting a dollar value on the preservation of Belize’s reefs. Now comes a report that a cargo ship wandered (reportedly while on autopilot) onto a barrier reef 32 miles from Belize City in an area near Caye Glory. Experts say that the grounding may have permanently destroyed […]
Putting a Value on Belize’s Reefs and Mangroves
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008In a recent post I applauded efforts to estimate the true economic value of the mangroves along the coast of Mexico’s Baja California. Last month the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released a report that estimates the economic value of Belize’s coral reefs and mangroves that I similarly applaud — in […]
A Poor Report Card for the Mesoamerican Reef
Monday, December 22nd, 2008A “report card” on the health of the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) was released recently, and it was not pretty. Not the type of report card a student would want to take home to his/her parents. The MAR follows the Caribbean coastline of Mexico and Central America for over 1,000 kilometers, and as such is the […]
Will Lula Protect Brazil’s Reefs?
Thursday, November 20th, 2008In September Brazil’s Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, caused quite a stir in conservation circles. He announced that he was sending a decree to the Planalto Palace for President Lula to sign that would significantly enhance Brazil’s protection of its coral reefs, something conservationists and marine biologists have been pushing for since at least the late […]
The Caribbean Challenge
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008Yes, I know, this announcement was made publicly at the end of May. I held off talking about here, in part to work first on older backlog from The Temas Blog queue, and in part to see if, as hinted, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica and St. Lucia would quickly announce that […]
Past as Prologue for Caribbean Reefs?
Friday, June 13th, 2008Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published a report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) assessing the state of the Caribbean’s coral reefs after their toughest year in recent history, 2005. The IOC is the lead international entity assessing and reporting […]
Sustainable Agriculture as a Key to Protecting the Mesoamerican Reef
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007Synopsis in English: WWF has concluded an agreement with major Honduran producers of palm oil — specifically Palmas de San Alejo and AGROTOR, subsidiaries of the JAREMAR Group — to adopt specified good agricultural management practices in order to reduce the impact their production has on the nearby huge Mesoamerican Reef (MAR). The agreement has […]
GEF Funds Project to Protect Caribbean Sea from Pesticides
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007Synopsis in English: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will provide US$5 million to help three LAC nations — Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua — reduce the adverse impact on the marine environment of the Caribbean Sea of their agricultural sectors’ use of pesticides. The three participating governments will match the amount, making it a US$10 […]
GEF Funds Climate Change Adaptation in Small Caribbean States
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006From the World Bank: World Bank and GEF Sign US$2.1 Million Grant to Protect Coastal Areas in the Caribbean The World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) signed a US$2.1 million grant agreement to support a pilot adaptation program in three Caribbean Small Island States (Dominica, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines), […]
Coral Reef Protection Postscript: Best Practices / Posdata, Protección de los Arrecifes de Coral: Mejores Prácticas
Saturday, October 21st, 2006At the end of my primer on protection of coral reefs in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), “What You Can Do,” I urged individuals and businesses alike that interact with LAC environments containing coral reefs to take actions designed to minimize their environmental impact on the reefs, and provided a checklist of tips in […]