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Coral reefs are a boon to biodiversity and marine ecology, and their declining health threatens our oceans with a loss of life that is hard to understand. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee recently removed Belize's coral reef system from its list of sites at risk – an affirmation of the country's recent conservation efforts to help rehabilitate and protect the island's ecosystem. destruction by the hands. "The Committee considered that the safeguard measures taken by the country, including the introduction of a moratorium on oil exploration throughout the maritime area of Belize and the strengthening of forest regulations allowing a better protection of mangroves, the site of the List of World Heritage in Danger, "said UNESCO in a statement released Tuesday.
To be perfectly clear, the movement does not exactly mean that the Belize Barrier Reef is now beautiful and dandy. It is still threatened by a multitude of problems, some of which are larger than Belize itself. But the main point to remember is that the government's strategies provide a rare model of how coastal authorities can take action to ensure the conservation of some vital natural systems. Explains Richard Aronson, professor of marine biology at the Florida Institute of Technology. "This change in status was based on concrete steps that Belize has taken to protect the reef system, and encourages the people and government of Belize, and the rest of us, to continue our work to preserve the ecosystems. coral reefs. "
Belize's coral reef system is the largest living reef barrier in the western and northern hemispheres. second largest coral reef in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef). It is home to an incredibly dynamic range of marine ecosystems, such as atolls, sand cays, lagoons, mangrove forests and estuaries. Like other coral reefs, it is a refuge for biodiversity, including endangered species such as acroporas, queen conch, nassau grouper, whale shark and West Indian manatee
In addition, "coral reefs provide essential ecosystem services to humans, attributes of high biodiversity and the wonder they inspire to each of us," says Aronson. More than half a billion people around the world can protect tropical and subtropical riparian communities from storm-induced erosion, worth tens of billions of dollars per year in tourism and recreational revenues. ancillary activities – "our economy is largely based on the tourism sector, which in turn is succeeding because our reef system," says Nicole Auil Gomez, Belize's country program director at the Wild Life Conservation Society. And we continue to find all kinds of potential discoveries (such as cancer compounds) from research on reef organisms.
On the other hand, coral reefs are also susceptible to a wide variety of threats. Rising water temperatures have given way to unprecedented rates of coral bleaching and disease. As the coral is degraded, the fish that call the reef (and help maintain the habitat) begin to die as well. "As part of my own research," says Aronson, "evidence from the cores of reef frames in Belize has led me to conclude that the changes we are seeing on the Belize Barrier Reef are new events since less than 3,000 years.
Auil Gomez also points out that "terrestrial sources of pollution are becoming increasingly problematic because we are seeing the effect of nutrients and solid wastes in and beyond the reef, with healthy corals and coral reefs. reduced herbarium. "
the area on its World Heritage List in Danger site in 2009, after finding a significant loss of reef mangroves, a Belize surge in offshore oil drilling and the approval of some construction projects not viable.
Fortunately, Belize chose to respond quite reasonably: in December 2017, politicians adopted a moratorium on offshore oil drilling throughout its maritime area (led in part by an informal referendum sponsored by environmental groups in which 96% otters have expressed opposition to oil drilling) and have enacted new regulations to preserve mangrove forests. Authorities have also banned fishing for some species that eat algae that compete with coral babies for space. The survival of these fish helps control potential coral intruders.
The new strategies reinforce the argument that local governments can do a lot to help local ecologies, but there are limits. "Conservation strategies and achievements in Belize have addressed local issues, such as overfishing, coastal development and land pollution," says Aronson. But climate change is a global problem, requiring a global solution. "A country can not cope with climate change in isolation, and additional international efforts will be needed," he said. "Belize deserves praise for taking great steps to solve the most local problems, so that once we control carbon emissions, we can restore the reef ecosystem more quickly."
things are not as serious can seem. Nature tends to be resilient enough, and the more we learn about corals, the more we realize that these creatures, endowed with a rich "genetic wealth", could actually evolve and adapt to a warmer world and more stressful. Yet, they could probably use a little help from us – perhaps in the form, say, of reducing greenhouse gases?
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