In his successful run for Governor of Mexico’s state of Quintana Roo in 2016, Carlos Joaquín González promised that for every vote he received, a coral would be planted in local waters to further reef restoration. The “one vote, one coral” slogan resonated in a state where tourism, most of which targets the coast, accounts for 85% of economic activity. And Joaquín’s administration has been working to make good on the pledge. In the election, Joaquín received some 265,000 votes. So the state is supporting efforts to grow, harvest and plant at least 265,000 corals by 2022 in its portion of the Mesoamerican Reef system by the time the governor’s six-year term concludes. Like those elsewhere in the Caribbean and the world, the state’s reefs are under pressure from global warming, ocean acidification, pollution runoff and overfishing. “In order to comply with this promise, there was a lot of... [Log in to read more]