The Mesoamerican Reef System (MBRS) is the second-largest barrier reef in the world. The system extends over 1,000 km of coastline throughout four countries, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.

The region is characterized by edge, barrier, and atoll reefs, cays, islands, coastal wetlands, reef and coastal lagoons, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests.

It includes 65 Natural Protected Areas (ANP) officially declared, which provide critical habitat for feeding, nesting, and breeding to exceptional flora and fauna of high biodiversity, some of which are commercially important, threatened, or endangered species. In addition, it contributes to the stabilization and protection of coastal landscapes and the maintenance of marine water quality.

In addition to the extraordinary biodiversity it hosts, the Mesoamerican Reef System supports more than two million people in the four countries, with tourism as the main economic activity in the region followed by fishing.