Adaptation to Climate Impacts in Coastal Zones in the Caribbean: Monitoring of Coral Reefs in Belize

The decline and loss of complex coral ecosystems can have significant social, cultural, economic consequences; therefore there is a need to understand their major stressors and promoting better management and conservation. The eoworld project demonstrated that systematic collection of data using on remote sensing techniques yields important information concerning health and resilience of the coral reefs systems. Such tailored monitoring and early warning tools can adequately support protection efforts and the scope of their potential recovery. The project covered the areas of the second longest Barrier Reef System in the world - Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS) which extends off the coasts of Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. The central theme of the trial focused on monitoring of coral reefs status (reefs habitats, reef extent), and main stress indicators (sea surface temperature patterns, chronic and acute thermal regimes, wave exposure - a proxy for potential macroalgae growth, and coral connectivity among reefs).

Technical Officer: Pierre-Philippe Mathieu

Starting Date: 2011-11-01

Suppliers:
University of Exeter as supplier - prime

Users:
World Bank as user - partner/collaborator
Caribbean Community Climate Change Center as user - partner/collaborator
GEF Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management as user - partner/collaborator

Services:
coastal habitat mapping: coral reef stress characterisation (Coastal Zone Management)