Watershed Analysis for the Mesoamerican Reef
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FacebookThis analysis quantifies and maps the origins of sediment and nutrient runoff that threatens the Mesoamerican Reef. With it, WRI seeks to inform land-use planning, agriculture, conservation and threat mitigation efforts.
Lauretta Burke, Zachary Sugg, with contributions from: Will Heyman, Shin Kobara, Laurent Cherubin, Christopher Kuchinke, Claire Paris, Johnathan Kool
Under the Watershed Management Theme of the ICRAN MAR partnership, WRI led a two-year, collaborative effort to evaluate the land-based threats posed to the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) from human alterations of the landscape.
The analysis quantifies sediment and nutrients coming from over 400 watersheds that discharge along the MAR. The analysis seeks to inform land-use planning, agricultural policy and practice, conservation priorities, and coastal threat mitigation efforts. It is the first of this scope and level of detail for the MAR region.
Specifically, the analysis evaluates the amount of sediment and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) coming from each plot of land; the amount of eroded sediment and nutrients reaching the river mouth; and the amount of sediment reaching the reef. It also provides estimates of the increases in sediment and nutrient delivery that have resulted from human activities, and predictions of future sediment and nutrient delivery in 2025 based on varying land-use scenarios.
The results provide a preliminary overview of regional patterns of sediment and nutrient runoff and delivery, and indicate how human alteration of the landscape can influence these patterns.
To ensure that the project’s results and analytical methods support concrete action, WRI has made the underlying data, analytical methods, and modeling tools publicly available, and has conducted extensive training sessions in the region. Policymakers can implement targeted analyses in smaller areas, calibrating them to local conditions.
Watershed Analysis for the Mesoamerican Reefs is now available:
- Full text PDF – English - Spanish
- Executive Summary PDF – English - Spanish
- Maps
- Watershed Analysis for the Mesoamerican Reef Data CD – The CD contains all data used in the analysis, with accompanying metadata as well as all of the model results. To order the CD, please contact reefsatrisk@wri.org or lagudelo@icran.org.
- GIS Data – also available at the Mesoamerican Regional Visualization and Monitoring System (SERVIR) Data Portal
- Materiales en español (Spanish materials)
