Publisher : United Nations
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2000
Thematic : Monitoring
Language : English
Note
Coral reefs are widely regarded as fragile coastal ecosystems in the East Asian Seas region because of their high biodiversity and the apparent susceptibility of reefs to anthropogenic impacts in particular. The sustainable use of this important coastal resource requires sufficient knowledge about the biology, geology and physics of coral reefs, impacts of human activities, global warming and economic, legal and political advice. Monitoring is an essential part of any programme of coral reef management. Monitoring is important to enable early detection of change in coral reefs over time due to natural impacts such as storm disturbance and starfish infestations, human impacts such as water pollution and anchor damage and the global scale processes such as climate change. Monitoring programmes are also necessary to determine the response of coral reefs to management action undertaken to reduce threats, such as the installation of mooring buoys, or reduction of fishing pressure on particular reefs. Recognizing the importance of monitoring, many initiatives have been developed worldwide to collect new data and bring existing information together to assess the status of reefs across particular regions and the world. Programmes include the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Union, Reef Check and Reef Base. However, current monitoring programmes are limited by the lack of trained personnel, widespread involvement of local communities (local people and private industry); and financial and other resources (boats and dive gear). Problems also exist in the communication of information needs between reef managers and researchers and in the accessibility of monitoring data by managers and providers once they have entered existing reef databases. In the East Asian Seas region, many dive shops operate frequent dive programmes on a daily basis in tourist attractive coral areas. With public education on the importance of coral reefs as marine resources, it is widely understood by the dive shops operators that monitoring will greatly help the understanding of the status of coral reefs, and help make correct decisions on the protection of this important resource. The workshop was intended to bring together the people and agencies, which are actively monitoring coral reefs in the East Asian Seas Region, to review existing knowledge and information acquisition, assess and archiving procedures for coral reef monitoring in the region, and to identify the necessary action to be taken to develop a regional database network.
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Keywords : Influence
Encoded by : Mae Belen Llanza
