Mesoamerican Reef Rescue Initiative (RRI)

Reef Rescue Initiative (RRI)

Photo: Nidia Ramos Martínez

Thanks to the generous support of the German Government through KfW, recovering damaged and degraded coral reefs in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) region is now a tangible possibility through the Reef Rescue Initiative.

Objective:

The Reef Rescue Initiative (RRI) aims to increase the resilience and ability to recover of the MAR and the environmental services it provides by helping to develop the human capacity, regulatory environment, and financial sustainability required to carry out sound, effective and timely science-based coral reef conservation and restoration.

Main approaches of the Initiative:

Continuing restoration

Based on diverse coral restoration techniques applied in reef areas that have been degraded or damaged.

Photo: Juan Carlos Huitrón

Emergency Response

Immediate response actions to repair reefs from hurricane impacts, ship groundings, or other reef damaging events.

Photo: MariCarmen García

This innovative project is implemented by MAR Fund and the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (CCAD), with the support of the four countries that share the reef system: Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

Lines of Action:

1. The MAR Insurance Programme

MAR Fund, through the Reef Rescue Initiative (RRI), in collaboration with Willis Towers Watson (WTW) designed a parametric insurance for reefs —The MAR Insurance Programme-

This pioneering program is implemented with the support of the environmental authorities of the four MAR countries. It has been designed to provide a cost-effective reef insurance scheme to cover hurricane risk in the MAR region, thereby strengthening the resilience of local communities and beneficiaries who depend on the reefs for their livelihoods, food security, and protection against natural disasters.

As an innovative financial mechanism, the MAR insurance programme ensures a response framework to mitigate the hurricane impacts on coral reefs. The program was launched in 2021 and currently covers reef sites in ten marine protected areas across the MAR region.

View map of the sites covered by the MAR Insurance Programme

2. The Emergency Fund

Created in 2017, the Emergency Fund was established to provide immediate and timely financing to support the restoration and rescue of coral reefs impacted by natural disasters such as hurricanes and storms, or by anthropogenic actions such as vessel groundings. Through this fund, MAR Fund strengthens the resilience of the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) by assisting countries in coordinating reef response and rescue teams across the region. Additionally, the Emergency Fund is the official mechanism through which MAR Fund receives and channels payments from the parametric insurance to the affected sites whenever the coverage is triggered.

Click here to access the documents to apply to the Emergency Fund

3. Reef Response Capacities and Governance

The post-storm reef response capacities refers to the organized groups that enable the efficient implementation of actions aimed at mitigating the damage caused by hurricanes to coral reefs.

As a key pillar of the MAR insurance programme, since 2021, MAR Fund, has supported the training and certification of more than 200 reef responders and X instructors; and, 7 Post-Storm Response Coordinating Committee. Each Committee has developed its own Post-Storm Response Plans, tailored to each site covered by the insurance.

These results have been possible to the collaboration of key partners, such as The Nature Conservancy, and the support of the country authorities in the MAR. The contribution of our donors has also been key to these achievements.

Click here to access the documents to apply to the Emergency Fund

4. Reef Restoration and Rehabilitation

The RRI, through its strategy of capacity building and support for restoration science, provides funding to local organizations to implement small projects that contribute to increasing coral cover and the resilience of coral reefs in the MAR.

Between 2017 and 2025, the RRI has supported 17 small projects to strengthening coral reef conservation and restoration efforts across the Mesoamerican Reef region. A total of 17 projects have been funded directly by RRI, benefiting ten organizations in
Mexico (4),
Belize (3), and
Honduras (3),
with a focus on capacity building, coral restoration, and addressing stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD).

In 2020, an additional three projects were implemented with funding from the “Integrated Watershed-to-Reef Management Project of the Mesoamerican Reef Ecoregion” (MAR2R/CCAD/GEF/WWF).

Collectively, these efforts have represented an investment of USD529,126.921, of which USD 440,826.92 was contributed by RRI and USD 98,250 by MAR2R/CCAD

5. Reef Response Protocols

In response to the challenges faced by the Mesoamerican Reef region, the conservation and restoration of reefs require mitigation and management actions to prevent further damage.

Combined with proper management, immediate response can make the difference between permanent loss and ecosystem recovery, strengthening reef resilience against climate change impacts and ensuring the conservation of their biodiversity and the services they provide.

With the response protocols, rescue teams (e.g. reef responders) will be able to act in an opportune, effective and coordinated manner to address the damages caused by hurricanes, storms, ship groundings or other reef damaging events. MAR Fund, in collaboration with regional partners and country authorities has elaborated the emergency response protocol for the attention to reefs damaged from potential ship groundings and maritime artifacts . Also, we have supported the dissemination and update of the Early Warning and Rapid Response Protocol: Actions to mitigate the impact of Tropical Cyclones on Coral Reefs, elaborated by TNC in 2019. These protocols and updated response protocol for the rescue of reefs affected by hurricanes, serve as a risk management tool and guidance for reef rescue teams.

6. Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) in the MAR

A Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) is an area that needs special protection through action by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) because of its significance for recognized ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons and which may be vulnerable to damage by maritime traffic.

The strategic importance of designating PSSAs in the MAR was captured in the Tulum Declaration, signed by the governments of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize, “to jointly request the IMO to declare the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA), to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable development of the region”.

In support of this effort, since 2020, MAR Fund, through the RRI, in collaboration with key partners in the region, carried out initial consultations to analyze the processes required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to propose the MAR region as a PSSA. To further support this work, the PROCARIBE+ project will contribute to the ongoing efforts for the development of a proposal for the IMO. A project Task Force has been formed to oversee the implementation of these activities.