UN Climate Solutions Award
Fragments of Hope, a small not-for-profit community organization based in Placencia, Belize is one of the UN Climate Solutions Award 2017 winners. Their work has focused on identifying and growing temperature tolerant corals for reef restoration.
To date they have outplanted more than 90,000 corals at three locations in southern Belize. The star site is Laughing Bird Caye National Park where restoration work was inspired after Hurricane Iris in 2001, and the work began in 2006.
Coral cover there has been increased by over 35%, and the nursery-grown, outplanted corals are also spawning (reproducing on their own to re-seed reefs naturally). Based on these successes, the restoration work has expanded in Belize to South Water Caye Marine Reserve and Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve.
Other Caribbean countries are also inspired to begin reef restoration. Lisa Carne, the executive Director/Founder of Fragments of Hope, and Mariko Wallen, a licensed tour guide and coral restoration practitioner, will be attending COP23 in Germany to accept the award, under the project title More corals=More Fish, and under the category “Women for Results”.
More info on Fragments of Hope on their website and facebook page.
