What are the threats to the Belize Barrier Reef?
What are the threats to the Belize Barrier Reef?
Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System The reef is facing a number of local threats including coastal development, overfishing, invasive species, as well as the multiple impacts of climate change such as coral bleaching, more severe storms and rising sea levels.
Why is the Belize Barrier Reef endangered?
But ecosystems in the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System have already been damaged by coastal construction, and potential oil drilling poses a major threat. These harmful industrial activities would impact Belize’s economy, natural resources, and the 1,400 species that live in the reef system.
What is a natural disaster that can damage Belize Barrier Reef?
In May of 2009, a powerful, magnitude-7.3 earthquake shook the western Caribbean, causing lagoonal reefs in Belize, 213 kilometers (132 miles) from the epicenter, to avalanche and slide into deeper water.
What are the human threats to coral reefs?
Pollution, overfishing, destructive fishing practices using dynamite or cyanide, collecting live corals for the aquarium market, mining coral for building materials, and a warming climate are some of the many ways that people damage reefs all around the world every day.
What is destroying the Great Barrier Reef?
The damage to the reef is a result of ocean warming, acidification and extreme weather, which has resulted in coral bleaching, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) 2020 World Heritage Outlook report, which tracks whether the conservation of the world’s 252 natural World Heritage …
Why should Belize Barrier Reef be protected?
The site provides an important habitat for a number of internationally threatened marine species. Remaining pristine areas of cayes (aka islands), with remnant stands of littoral and mangrove forest, also provide critical habitat for several endemic and migratory bird species (IUCN, 1996).
How can we protect the Belize Barrier Reef?
Donate to the Belize Barrier Reef to help fund our conservation efforts. Stay in your lane. Recreation zones and nature trails were created for the safe enjoyment of Belize’s spectacular landscape and to help protect it. Walking off the trail damages the natural environment.
Why is it important to protect our Barrier Reef?
Coral reefs provide an important ecosystem for life underwater, protect coastal areas by reducing the power of waves hitting the coast, and provide a crucial source of income for millions of people.
What is destroying the Great Barrier reef?
