ABSTRACT
The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS or MAR: Mesoamerican Reef) is the world's largest transboundary barrier reef, encompassing 1000 km of coastline, from the northeast end of the Yucatn Peninsula, Mexico, to the Bay Islands in Honduras. The MAR ecoregions includes oceanic habitats, coastal zones, tropical forests and the Caribbean draining watersheds from four countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. The MBRS goal was to protect the functional integrity and biodiversity by creating a framework for the sustainable use of resources in the area. It concentrated on the establishment of proper planning, management and monitoring of marine protected areas (MPAs). This chapter presents the progress achieved to date regarding regional collaboration, analyse what approaches have and have not worked and provide a perspective on what the future may look like for the environmental resources and Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) local communities. It explores to promote more effective collaboration and cooperation through an assessment of conservation investments being made on the MAR.
