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The Spectacular Mesoamerican Reef stretches more than 1,000 km from the
Northern tip of the Yucatan, Mexico through the waters of Belize,
Guatemala and Northern Honduras to form a dynamic mosaic of habitats
nurturing this hotspot of biological and cultural diversity. It
includes the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere and is
considered one of the biodiversity hotspots of the Atlantic. The people
of the region are also rich in ethnic and cultural diversity, with many
traditional cultures remaining closely tied to marine and coastal
resources. Over the last decade, the number and extent of marine
conservation and monitoring programs have grown rapidly. At the same
time our marine resources have faced growing global, regional and
localized threats, resulting in overall degradation of these invaluable
resources despite the increased conservation effort. We have also come
to realize that we need to advance our understanding of the real
drivers of ecosystem health in the MAR and improve the way in which we
track and evaluate our ecosystems, our society, and our efforts. We
also recognize the value of scaling up our efforts by increasing
collaboration, data sharing and amalgamation into regional
meta-analyses. Here, more than most places, the health of the human
population, our communities and our economies, are all largely
dependent on our ability to maintain healthy reefs. We aim to show
connections between ecosystem health and human actions to galvanize
strong support for reef conservation. |
This eco health report card is the first comprehensive reef assessment of the Mesoamerican reef Ecosystem (MAR). It aims to provide timely, accurate and reliable information on the condition of the MAR resources and our degree of success at managing these resources. It will be produced every other year through the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative. The report card presents an easy to understand overview of reef ecosystem condition and stewardship by providing a straightforward five point grading system from 'very good' to 'critical' for seven reef indicators About Reef Health
- The Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) is not healthy, on average scoring only a bout half the ideal Integrated Reef Health Index (IRHI).
- More than half the reefs sites are compromised, with 47% in poor and 6% in critical condition.
- Many reefs (42%) are in fair condition and could easily change for better or worse...
Download Report Card here (PDF)
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Read more...
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Indicators of Reef Health and Social Well-being
Measuring Reef Health is more complex than visiting your family physician for an annual checkup. Scientists are only now beginning to develop quantitative inductors to evaluate reef health. This report card is one of the first such attempts for a diverse reef ecosystem. We have selected 7 key ‘indicators’ that have sufficient data coverage and the ability to help detect differences among reef sites. The objective is to use an optimum amount (6-10) of indicators to measure reef health. We have combined three coral focused indicators into a Coral Index and four other indicators into the Reef Biota index. The two sub-indices are then averaged to attain the overall Integrated Reef Health Index (IRHI), which serves as the ultimate measure of reef health.
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