Caribbean Coral Reefs

Many people in coastal communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean depend on the natural resources provided by reefs for their livelihoods. Ensuring proper management of the reefs is vital for the economic and environmental health of the region, but there is a lack of quality information about the relationship between human activities and coral reef condition across the region. The Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean project was a response to this information need. The primary goal of the project was to raise awareness and improve management of coral reefs across the region through improving the knowledge base on the status of and threats to coral reefs. In collaboration with partner institutions across the region, we implemented an analysis to link human activities with reef condition. A major component of the project involved modeling (estimating) threat to coral reefs from human activities.