The Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund) is a non-profit corporation created by four environmental funds from México, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras as a financial mechanism for conservation and adequate resource use in the Mesoamerican Reef Ecoregion.
It was officially incorporated in the state of Delaware (U.S.A.) in February 2004. This unique conservation finance mechanism is the first environmental fund in the Western Hemisphere that transcends the national boundaries of four countries to encompass an entire “eco-region”.
For the purpose of the MAR Fund, the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) is defined as the system extending nearly 1000 km from the northern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula in México to the Bay Islands / Cochino Cayes complex off the north coast in Honduras. It includes, besides the coastal and marine ecosystems the watersheds that drain into the Caribbean in Mexico , Belize , Guatemala and Honduras . The MAR contains the largest barrier coral reef system in the Western Atlantic and is part of a larger interconnected system of coastal habitats and currents.
Acknowledging the need for long-term financial sustainability conservation initiatives in the MAR, representatives from four environmental funds came together to establish the Mesomerican Reef Fund. The idea was to build, based on the capability and experience of the four funds, a financial mechanism as a complementary initiative to the present and future efforts in conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in the eco-region.
The initiative was launched with the endorsement of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC) http://www.redlac.org/ and the technical and financial support of The Summit Charitable Foundation, WWF and TNC.
The MAR Fund is a participatory, privately managed mechanism, which will foster coordination with public sector, civil society and private entities regionally and in each one of the countries. It will work in coordination with other initiatives and projects carried out in the MAR, in order to consolidate joint efforts and to promote synergies in conservation.
|
During the past year, the Fund established the legal structure required to operate as an independent financial mechanism. The Board of Directors is now focused on the immediate needs of strategic planning, capitalization and operational procedures of the Fund.
For further information, you can visit the following web site
http://www.marfund.org
|
