In the context of the third International Year of the Reef (IYOR 2018), the Ocean and Climate Platform and its partners – French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB), Oceanographic Institute – Prince Albert I of Monaco Foundation, Centre for Island Research and Environmental Observatory (CNRS-CRIOBE) and French Initiative for Coral Reefs (IFRECOR) – organized a conference on 20 June on the latest available scientific evidence and the current research on coral reefs, as well as on the existing solutions to try to halt their decline. The policy brief “Coral reefs: solutions for today and tomorrow” has been designed as summary document and is available in French.
This topic is particularly important for France, whose Overseas countries and territories in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans are home to 10% of the world’s coral reefs. Coral reef ecosystems provide services essential to human life, such as food and coastal protection. For France alone, the value of these services is estimated at 1.3 billion euros per year, which is enough to understand the importance of coral reefs for human societies.
However, coral reefs are amongst the most threatened ecosystems: it is estimated that 20% of reefs have already been permanently destroyed and 50% will be threatened by 2050 due to human pressures. Urbanisation, local pollution and overfishing, among others, are responsible for the progressive degradation of reef ecosystems, whose capacity to adapt to global changes such as global warming is severely weakened.
Solutions exist to protect and conserve coral reefs, as well as to restore those that are already degraded. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) legislation, the integration of local communities into reef conservation, the reduction of anthropogenic pressures and the strengthening of scientific research on coral reefs’ adaptation and resilience mechanisms are just few examples of solutions that need to be developed for today and for the future, for a better conservation and the sustainable use of coral reef ecosystems.
Download the policy brief, here.