Reefs at Risk +10; help do it right

From the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN):

It's been 10 years since the last global Reefs at Risk report. This past decade has been hard on the world's coral reefs, and it's time for us to assess the impact of these threats once more.

We need your help to do it right.

Released in 1998, Reefs at Risk was the first global, quantitative assessment of threats to coral reefs ever conducted. By showing that almost 60% of the world reefs were threatened by human activities, Reefs at Risk was a global call to action, raising awareness of the link between human activities and coral reef threats.

Its maps, graphics, statistics and Geographic Information System data showed us that 35% of reefs were threatened by overexploitation, and over 30% by coastal development. It showed us the location of reefs facing these critical threats and sparked global priority setting efforts, hot spot analysis and a wide variety of conservation partnerships and initiatives. Its findings are still widely quoted today.

Following the 1998 report, the World Resources Institute (WRI) led two high-resolution analyses of human pressure on coral reefs in the Caribbean and in Southeast Asia. These regional analyses were 16 times more detailed than the global analysis. Through a partnership with 25 partners in each region, Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia (2002 English, Bahasa) and Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean (2004 English, Spanish) showed threat levels and origins, the values of coral reef ecosystem goods and services, and estimated the potential losses from degradation.

Thanks to these studies, we were able to improve and refine our threat modeling approaches and developed an integrated database including over 30 data layers reflecting the location, condition, protection status and threats to coral reefs.

Building on what we've learned over the past 10 years, the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN) and WRI are now leading a group of institutions to undertake a global update of the Reefs at Risk analysis during the International Year of the Reef 2008. In early 2006, ICRAN hosted a meeting in Cambridge, UK and joined forces with WRI, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, the Nature Conservancy, the UN Environment Programme, UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre, WorldFish Center, and others to determine a plan to create a new global analysis.

As with the last global Reefs at Risk analysis, the centerpiece will be a series of map-based indicators of threats to coral reefs. As before, we will develop a globally consistent indicator of threats from coastal development, land-based threats, marine-based threats, and overexploitation, and present it in a comprehensive, informative and user-friendly guide.

We need your help to make sure that we create a Reefs at Risk that is useful to the widest audience possible.

Could you please take a few moments and provide us with your input? Many thanks!

Go here to complete the survey.