Adaptation, conservation, and restoration activities of the Belize Barrier Reef System have socio-economic significance, providing an opportunity for maintaining and potentially increasing the income level and marine resources available for an estimated 203,000 people living in the coastal areas of Belize.
The Project builds capacity for local communities, which are directly affected by the climate impacts, to act as champions of the marine managed areas and of the resources upon which they depend. MCCAP is an investment in the sustainable livelihoods of communities and healthy marine ecosystems.
MCCAP’s dedicated Project Implementing Agency Group (PIAG) worked to a successful implementation within three Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and twelve coastal communities to dialog, coordinate, supervise, monitor, manage and report.
Belize, under the leadership of the Ministry of Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment and Sustainable Development with fiduciary management assistance from the Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) as the National Implementing Entity (NIE) and the World Bank as the Multilateral Implementing Entity (MIE), implemented the Marine Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation Project (MCCAP) in the coastal areas of Belize between 2015 and 2020.
With an Adaptation Fund grant in the amount of US$ 5.53 million, the objective of the project is to implement priority ecosystem-based marine conservation and climate adaptation measures to strengthen the climate resilience of the Belize Barrier Reef System. The project is comprised of four components.