Mesoamerican Reef Leadership Program


Conserving the reefs of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras

The Project

The objective of the Mesoamerican Reef Leadership Program (MAR-L) is to accelerate conservation impacts in the Mesoamerican Reef System (MAR) ecoregion, which includes Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. It seeks to develop the capabilities and enhance the talent of young conservationists in the region to design and implement high-impact conservation projects, providing them with mentoring, leadership tools, and the opportunity to connect through work networks and become agents of change in the region.

Context

MAR-L has proven to be a platform to scale projects and create synergies internationally. In thirteen years, the project has achieved results at different levels: its structure has allowed the strengthening of the professional capacities of the human capital of the region, it has facilitated a profound personal transformation of the participants, and it has created strong ties within and between generations. These achievements translate into high-impact actions that are generating positive changes in the conservation of the SAM and benefiting more than two million people who depend on the health of the reef.

Our commitment is to continue developing the region's talent and strengthen the MAR-L network with a long-term strategic approach. This will promote collective actions and replicate successful projects that will facilitate, accelerate, and amplify measurable impacts toward the development of an environmentally responsible economic model and effective conservation actions in the MAR region.


The lines of work that guide MAR-L's actions are as follows:

  1. Recruitment of talent and development of capabilities.
  2. Design and implementation of high-impact projects with a business focus, with the support of specialists.
  3. Creation of a network of leaders and specialists in marine and coastal issues.

MAR-L benefits more than 2 million people who depend on the reef's health.

Achievements

MAR-L has proven to be a platform to scale projects and create synergies internationally. In 13 years of operation, it has trained 145 leaders from the four countries and has incubated over 80 conservation projects. 67 leaders have advanced to positions of greater responsibility, and 25 leaders have influenced the public policies of their country. From the relationships developed in MAR-L, 38 multinational synergies have emerged, and more than 25 leaders have received financing from the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund) to implement their projects and consultancies.

In March 2024, the graduation ceremony for the 2023 cohort of the SAM Leadership Project was held in Puerto Morelos, where 21 leaders developed 14 subprojects focused on nature-based solutions with a market-oriented approach. The subprojects, which cover areas such as coral reef restoration for tourism, invasive species control, waste management and recycling, and sustainable food production, represent the diversity and potential of nature-based businesses in the region. Currently, four of these subprojects are in the implementation phase, while eleven are led by women, whose initiatives are driving economic and ecological changes, while also creating a significant social impact.

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Allies

Donors:

  • Global Fund for Coral Reefs
  • Mesoamerican Reef Fund
  • The Summit Foundation

Partners:

  • Healthy Reefs for Healthy People
  • MAR+Invest
  • Mesoamerican Reef Fund
  • New Ventures Group
  • Sureste Sostenible, A. C.
  • Viwala Capital