Regional Strategy and Action Plan for the Valuation, Protection and/or Restoration of Key Marine Habitats in the Wider Caribbean 2021 – 2030: Technical Report No.2

This regional strategy sets out management actions to address lionfish and other alien invasive species, direct over-exploitation and pollution which are threatening Caribbean marine habitats. Protecting the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and associated living resources that make up the wider Caribbean region is vital to safeguarding the future of the 26 countries and 18 overseas territories in this region, stretching from the USA in the north to Brazil and the Guianas in the south. The more than 134 million people who live on or near the coast in the wider Caribbean are supported socially and economically by one of the most valuable and productive ecological systems in the world, the coral reef-mangrove-seagrass complex. However, this vitally important ecosystem complex is imperilled by stresses from human activity and natural processes that compromise its ability to continue being an economic driver for the region and provide the goods and ecosystem services, intrinsic, and sociocultural benefits, that support the well-being of all living things within the region and beyond.