Status of the Worlds Coral Reefs
Executive Summary

GLOBAL EFFORTS TO CONSERVE CORAL REEFS

The international community responded to alarm calls on the status of coral reefs in the early 1990s by initiating major initiatives. The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) was catalysed by the USA in 1994 and now has the participation of Australia, France, Jamaica, Japan, the Philippines, Sweden, UK, and major agencies like UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/UNESCO), the World Bank, ICLARM (International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management), and SPREP (South Pacific Regional Environment Programme). ICRI has consulted over 100 countries to catalogue their concerns, requirements, and ideas, and to document their actions to conserve reef resources and has developed a major strategy that has been endorsed by over 80 countries—the ICRI Call to Action and Framework for Action. This strategy will be reviewed, and progress will be evaluated at the International Tropical Marine Ecosystems Management Symposium in Townsville, November 1998.

One universal call from the international community was for more information and data on the status of reefs. This catalysed the formation of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) under the sponsorship of IOC/UNESCO, UNEP, IUCN (the World Conservation Union), and the World Bank. The GCRMN is assisting about 80 countries to form nodes, built around existing expertise, to provide training in monitoring the reefs and to work with communities to assess reef-use patterns. These two themes bring in expertise from the two host organisations, AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science) and ICLARM, with considerable funding from the government of the USA. Monitoring has started and the data gathered are flowing into ReefBase, the global database housed in ICLARM. This report is a product of the GCRMN.

A parallel monitoring programme involving volunteers – Reef Check, joined the GCRMN to broaden global monitoring to include user communities. The first, truly global surveys in 1997 and 1998 data gathered using one method for comparison from over 300 sites around the world. This programme, based at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, uses basic assessment methods to document exploitation of reef resources throughout the world. Reef Check has built up a strong following among scientists and recreational divers, and achieved a major goal in raising awareness among the public and governments about the need for coral reef conservation. Participation in Reef Check is the first step towards community-based management and this has now occurred in over 40 countries.

CARICOMP (Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity Program) is an environmental monitoring programme that includes reefs, which will coordinate monitoring in smaller Caribbean countries and states for the GCRMN. A coral reef mapping project called AGRA (Atlantic and Gulf Reef Assessment) was launched by scientists at the University of Miami in Florida in 1998, to map reef health. Another programme, (AQUANAUT) has been developed by ICLARM to train divemasters to lead reef assessment teams.

The problems facing coral reefs and the people who use and appreciate them are enormous, and increasing. But in parallel there is increasing global awareness of the need for action, and many people, agencies and countries, are putting resources to reef assessment and conservation. A new integrated programme combining many of the initiatives above—the International Coral Reef Action Network, working within the Regional Seas network of UNEP—is now seeking funds to enable the move from consulting, meeting, and planning, to action and results to conserve global reef resources.

web@aims.gov.au
Last updated - 7 December 98

Copyright ©1996-1998 Australian Institute of Marine Science

URL http://www.aims.gov.au