Reef Resilience Review February 2011

"Reefs at Risk Revisted" Report released: 75% of World's Coral Reefs Currently Under Threat

Spotlight on Agatti Conservation Region, Lakshadweep, India

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February 2011 Newsletter
Distributed by the Global Marine Initiative

"Reefs at Risk Revisted" Report released: 75% of World's Coral Reefs Currently Under Threat

"Reefs at Risk Revisted" presents a comprehensive analysis and a detailed assessment of the status of and threats to the world's coral reefs.
© The Nature Conservancy

A comprehensive analysis of coral reefs conducted by over 25 environmental organizations and hundreds of scientists finds that 75 percent of the world's coral reefs are currently under threat. "Reefs at Risk Revisited" is the most detailed assessment of the threats to the world's coral reefs ever undertaken.

Originally released in 1998, "Reefs at Risk" served as an important resource for policymakers to understand and address the threats of reefs. For the first time, the analysis includes threats from climate change, including warming seas and increasing ocean acidification. The report shows that local pressures — such as overfishing, coastal development and pollution — pose the most immediate and direct risks, threatening more than 60 percent of coral reefs today.

"Reefs at Risk Revisited" is being released by the World Resources Institute, along with The Nature Conservancy, the WorldFish Center, the International Coral Reef Action Network, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Center, and a network of more than 25 organizations.

"This is about people as well as nature," said Dr. Mark Spalding, senior marine scientist at The Nature Conservancy and lead author of the report. "Coral reefs keep our food supplies stable, act as a magnet for tourism dollars and produce life-saving compounds found in medicines for cancer, heart disease and HIV. When we secure the reefs, we safeguard human futures too."

Read the full article here.

Spotlight on Agatti Conservation Region, Lakshadweep, India

The uninhabited islands of Lakshadweek are highly diverse and host the second largest nesting grounds for Green and Hawksbill sea turtles.
© Deepak Apte

The Lakshadweep Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Kerala in the Arabian Sea. This biodiversity hotspot is home to over 700 species of fishes, 150 species of corals, 12 species of marine mammals, 20 species of reptiles, 95 species of birds, 600 species of mollusks, 200 species of echinoderms, 2000 species of lower invertebrates, 95 species of marine algae, and more than 400 species of terrestrial plants. In addition, the uninhabited islands of Lakshadweep are the second largest nesting grounds for green and hawksbill turtles.

The Agatti Conservation Reserve is the result of collaborative efforts between Bombay Natural History Society, Lead International, and funding from the Darwin Initiative to conduct intensive ecological and social surveys on all of Lakshadweep's 11 inhabited and 14 uninhabited islands.

The protection of Agatti's coral reef was motivated by itss unique biodiversity and the pressing livelihood needs of Agatti's fishing community, who directly depend on these biologically diverse resources.