Posted on October, 01 2000

"This is the Great Barrier Reef that very few people know," says Sylvia Marin, the Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef ecoregion coordinator for the conservation organization WWF. "It is home to about 60 species of coral and some 600 species of reef fish. And that's not even mentioning the manatee, marine turtles, dolphins and whale sharks that live in or frequent the reef and adjacent coral habitats."

The reef faces assaults on a regular basis from natural phenomenon - WWF may soon undertake a diving expedition to assess the damage from Hurricane Mitch and a coral bleaching event in 1998 - but the most persistent and predominant threat is the impact from human activities.

Municipal waste contamination, bilge released from ships, sedimentation from inland deforestation and pesticides, and the risk of a catastrophic oil spill involving the numerous tankers that ply its waters all threaten the reef's health. Commercial and small-scale fisheries are depleting populations of lobster, conch and finfish. Coastal development and tourism are booming. Cruise ships, already sailing the seas of the Mesoamerican Reef more than ever before, are gaining in size and frequency.

It is a long and seemingly insurmountable list of challenges to the health and survival of the reef. It's a list that worries Marin - but also motivates her to action.

"The thing that is great, is that right now when I'm attacking these problems, within WWF I see a lot of room to be innovative, there's an openness to try new ideas and even be a little risky," she explains.

The cruise ship dilemma is a classic example. Watching fleets of huge ships coast over fragile reefs, and knowing that the cruise industry is planning more and bigger vessels, Marin hopes her skills of persuasion will bring the world's biggest cruise lines to the table for serious talks.

"So far we're opening a dialogue with Royal Caribbean cruise line. When you're working with for-profits the challenge is to make saving the environment appealing to a corporation," she explains. "You have to ask yourself: How can we approach these people? Who in WWF can help pave the way? What can we do to make it beneficial for them? . . . It's just a process of finding avenues."

Her pitch with Royal Caribbean is to hopefully get them to join WWF in designing guidelines for responsible cruising, participate in mapping to determine sensitive reef areas, and boosting a campaign to educate visitors to the region. She is also heading to the offices of Standard Fruit in an effort to stem the tide of pesticides washing onto the reef from vast banana, pineapple, and other onshore fruit plantations.

" If we want to achieve long term conservation in the area, we have to talk to the big companies," says Marin. "We can have all the protected areas we want, but if we're not addressing major threats wildlife will all go down the drain anyway."

Marin is a one woman tour de force, but is quick to point out that she is part of a team. Clearly a modest person, she takes painstaking effort to ensure all members - the biologists, programme coordinators and assistants - she works with get credit for any achievements crucial to saving the reef.

A Central American inspired by the awesome wildlife surrounding her in her homeland of Costa Rica, but driven by pragmatism and a childhood ambition to reach out and help, Marin is a physicist by training but yearned to be more "hands on" in addressing the issues touching the environment. In 1988 she earned a Masters Degree in Technology and Policy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, focusing on natural resources management and energy conservation, and has worked in the environmental field ever since.

But her training couldn't have prepared her for the amount of political finesse she is credited with using to involve partners and collaborators in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras to come together for the protection of the Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef. They are nations and governments in a region that is frequently facing political upheaval and natural disasters, and have to respond to populations that are largely at best ambivalent, at worst completely uneducated about the environment. In the minds of many health and poverty far outweigh the need to protect reefs.

Marin and her team's mandate involves educating local fishermen as well as officials at the highest political levels about the connection between a healthy environment, a healthy economy and a higher standard of living.

"It is a long, painstaking process of networking and gaining trust that can be turned around as fast as an election or posting change. In 24 hours, months of work you've put into getting one politician to understand the issue and what needs to be done can evaporate," says Marin

Brokering an enforcement scheme earlier this year with the Federation of Fishing Cooperatives in Quintana Roo, Mexico to protect the Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve from illegal fishing is a template for the kind of work Marin and her team undertake. Spearheaded by fellow WWF colleagues Holly Payne and Jaime Gonzalez the deal is protecting the reserve from illegal fishing. A stunning 70 square mile string of fringing corals and cays on the Mexico-Belize border that is home to sea turtles and colourful reef fish, the Reserve is critical to supporting an important population of lobster and queen conch crucial to local economies.

"With any negotiations the key is communication," Marin says. "You are constantly making sure that any rumours are swept away and communication lines are open. We have a good rapport with the governments and local authorities and that goes a long way toward building bridges."

"Sometimes even I am amazed at how well the governments respond," she points out. "I think they are willing to help, to contribute maps or other technical assistance, because ultimately they understand that our work helps them, and more importantly their people . . . that something good is going to come of this."

The jewel in her crown thus far is the Tulum Action Plan, a Gift to the Earth in which the governments of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico were public honoured by WWF for their 1997 landmark commitment to jointly create a plan to protect the Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef. Under the Action Plan, the four governments will work with WWF and local conservation groups to reinforce protected areas in the region, manage fisheries, and conserve key wildlife and habitats.

"Obviously it took the work of a lot of people, a lot of local groups and officials to get this done, but I'm very proud of my part," says Marin. "It is going to open a lot of doors for effective conservation throughout the region."

Getting to the Action Plan is indicative of the many hours of negotiations, and long roads of communication Marin follows.

"It's tough, and sometimes I feel like we're a tiny ant trying to battle a giant when I look at the threats facing the reef . . . we're so dependent on the political will of others," Marin says. "But I haven't given up yet, and I don't think I will in the future"

*Elizabeth Foley is a writer based in London, UK