January 31st, 2011

A tourism organisation and a conservation organisation are teaming up to improve coral reef protection in the Caribbean:

A cooperation agreement was signed [last week] between the Organization of Latin-American and Caribbean Tourism (OLACT) and the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL); both organizations will work together to implement conservation programs for the coral reefs and the marine life in Latin-America and the Caribbean.

Through the members of OLACT, both in the tourism and educational sector, CORAL will be able to share and disseminate the knowledge and tools developed throughout their long experience of working in reef zones in Hawaii, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Fiji, and Indonesia.

Through its educational and financing components, OLACT will promote CORAL’s conservation tools and trainings to the tourism industry and will foster sustainable tourism programs to ensure the protection of the reefs by helping communities develop innovative local initiatives that conserve reefs and return tangible benefits to local communities. Finally the university partners of OLACT will leverage the trainings to help spread the educational messages about coral reef conservation throughout Latin-America and the Caribbean region.