Governments in the Mesoamerican Reef region are exploring the use of nature-based solutions to strengthen coral health and societal benefits for coastal communities.
Governments in the Mesoamerican Reef region are exploring the use of nature-based solutions to strengthen coral health and societal benefits for coastal communities. A new study in Nature Sustainability led by Stanford researchers in collaboration with scientists from the World Wildlife Fund, the Healthy Reefs Initiative, and others from the Smart Coasts project quantified the outcomes of different watershed interventions to support coral health at regional versus national scales, and identified target areas that could improve both ecosystem and societal benefits nationally and across the region.
The nature-based approaches evaluated as key watershed (e.g., drainage area) interventions include ecosystem restoration or protection, and sustainable agriculture. Yet determining which areas to target for these interventions requires understanding the complex relationships between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, also known as “land-sea linkages,” their benefits to people, and the spatial scale being considered.
This work pushed the boundaries of how scientists analyze biophysical and ecological relationships, using cutting-edge optimization models (for the first time in a coastal context) of how to maximize benefits – and to whom – while meeting spatial or resource constraints.
Read more at: Stanford University
Coral underwater near Half Moon Caye island, a natural monument of Belize in the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. (Photo Credit: Antonio Busiello, WWF)
