#Status of Coral Reefs 2002 - International Coral Reef Action Network

Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2002
SPECIAL MPAS AND OTHER SITES
A special focus of the GCRMN is to facilitate coral reef monitoring as part of the
performance evaluation in marine protected areas (MPAs) with reefs. Below are summary
tables for three major ‘categories’ of protected areas. There is a poor representation of
coral reef areas in World Heritage Sites of UNESCO, and this was a special theme of a
meeting of experts in Hanoi in February 2002, to recommend priority sites for World
Heritage recognition. The Man and the Biosphere sites were designated by UNESCO to
promote research on natural environments, but there are few of these which have a large
component of coral reefs. Finally, the ICRAN project has selected 17 sites around the
world to serve as key demonstrations of best practice in coral reef conservation.
The summary tables below contain subjective assessments of coral reef areas as a
proportion of the major natural resources listed as targets for conservation. More details
on these sites are attached in the respective regional chapter. These illustrate that many of
these sites have been established to conserve other natural resources with coral reefs
being incidental (estimated proportion of coral reefs as % of natural resources). The tables
also contain a subjective assessment of the level of ecological and socio-economic
monitoring, with the implication that those sites with major components of coral reefs
should have higher levels of monitoring. Obtaining information for some of the sites was
not easy, thus the GCRMN would appreciate corrections to the assessments and the
information. Our goal is to update these tables in future to show when more sites are
declared for protection and measure any increases in monitoring.
THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF INITIATIVE IN CONSERVING CORAL REEFS
ICRI was a product of the rising concern over the status of coral reefs and dire predictions
from 1992 and 1993, and the calls to action expressed at the Rio de Janeiro Environment
Summit in 1992. ICRI aims to catalyse solutions to problems brought to the ‘table’,
around which sit representatives of developing and developed governments, UN agencies,
international NGOs, foundations and coral reef scientists. ICRI also acts through
governments and international agencies to bring coral reef concerns to the attention of
international forums such as UN Conventions, UN General Assembly etc.
The sharing of the Secretariat has succeeded in bringing new ideas and expertise to the
table every 2 years, but it has been inefficient in that the learning experiences of each
secretariat are dissipated after 2 years. The current arrangement of shared responsibility
between the Philippines, a developing, and Sweden, a developed country was aimed at
bringing the two perspectives together, with the Philippines providing a conduit for the
views of the developing world, and Sweden channelling views of the European Union and
other developed countries to members. However, the lack of dedicated funding for the
ICRI Secretariat and the reliance on host country resources to support its operations, have
meant that the views of the developing world have not received the emphasis necessary to
arrest the problems faced by the coral reefs and their human populations. Thus there is a
need for ICRI to establish a more stable network of coordinators, which will require
sustainable funding. As in most situations, funding for coordination is more difficult to
obtain than funds for on-the-ground activities (which will be more efficient if there is a
system of coordination able to link similar activities elsewhere).
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