ICRI News

The Governments of Australia and Belize, as co-hosts of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) Secretariat, are pleased to announce that the first General Meeting under their stewardship will be held in Cairns, Australia on 16-19 July 2012. More information will be posted soon.

The government of France has designated its two latest Wetlands of International Importance, bringing that Party’s total Ramsar Sites to 38, covering 3,289,306 hectares. As summarized from the Ramsar Information Sheets by Ramsar’s Kati Wenzel, La Vasière des Badamiers (Île de Mayotte – océan indien) (115 hectares, 12°47’S 045°16’E), on the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, consists of a mud flat area partially covered by mangroves. Sea grass beds and different species of algae play a key role in maintaining the ecological character of this highly productive and diverse ecosystem, which is used as a refuge as well as a breeding, feeding and wintering site by many bird species, especially waders, but also by fish and turtles such as the Green Sea Turtle.

Tobago's coral reefs have been threatened significantly by numerous factors both anthropogenic and natural. The reefs in Speyside, however, showed little susceptibility to the natural environmental threats that have persisted over the years, namely, bleaching, eutrophication and sedimentation. It was for this reason that it was described as versatile and resilient by the Buccoo Reef Trust and consequently became the target for a properly managed and protected, marine park.

Rare, in partnership with National Geographic, announced the grand-prize winner and runners-up of "Solution Search: Turning the Tide for Coastal Fisheries." Through online voting at www.solutionsearch.org, the public voted for their top three solutions. The Wildlife Conservation Society won the grand prize with its solution, "Bycatch Escape Gaps for Fish Traps" in Curaçao and Kenya. It received a U.S. $20,000 prize to support its conservation and resource management initiative. The two runners-up, Off the Hook Community Supported Fishery and the Misool Baseftin Foundation, each received prizes of U.S. $5,000 for their respective solutions, "Fresh. Fair. Fish." in Canada and "Defending the Heart of Marine Biodiversity: Community Stewardship of Raja Ampat's Reefs" in Raja Ampat.

The third General Meeting under the French-Samoan co-secretariat was held from the 12-15 December 2011, in La Réunion. Two resolutions were adopted. One on the International Coral Reef Action Network, that suspends the Network, and the other one on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development that encourages ICRI members to support the inclusion of references to the conservation and sustainable management of all coral reefs, and their importance to sustainable development in the final outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), as well as any statement of commitments which may also include the blue economy and integrated oceans management. A recommandation on the Indian Ocean Region was also adopted.

6 December 2011: The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has delayed action on its annual omnibus text on Oceans and the Law of the Sea.

The Secretariat of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) has published inputs from Stakeholders that responded to the invitation from the Second Preparatory Committee for inclusion in a compilation document to serve as basis for the preparation of zero draft of the outcome document. The request was transmitted by the Co-Chairs of the UNCSD Bureau in a letter dated 14 March 2011.

31 submissions are mentioning coral reefs, including the inputs from the European Union that is referring to ICRI

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Coastal communities in remote areas of the Coral Triangle in Indonesia and the Philippines will receive Asian Development Bank (ADB) support to start small, green businesses that will help preserve one of the most diverse and threatened marine environments in the world.

A $2 million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, administered by ADB, will help poor fishing households in Berau District in East Kalimantan, Indonesia and Balabac in Palawan, the Philippines, identify, establish and operate eco-friendly businesses that could potentially include seaweed culture, fish processing, boat transport services and livestock rearing.

28 October 2011: The Third Ministerial Meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs Fisheries and Food Security opened this week, with environment and fisheries ministers from six Asia-Pacific countries meeting to advance their collective agenda for protecting and managing the fragile Coral Triangle.

The Coral Triangle is known as the "Amazon of the Seas" for being one of the world's most diverse and threatened marine ecosystems. It encompasses ocean areas in six countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), with support from the French Government , released during the 22nd SPREP Meeting, held in September 2011 in Apia (Samoa), a “Good coastal management practices in the Pacific : experiences from the field”. This work resulted from a recommendation adopted during the last ICRI General Meeting.

In its decision X/29 (paragraph 74), the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requested the Executive Secretary to prepare a report on the progress made in the implementation of the specific work plan on coral bleaching, adopted in decision VII/5 (appendix 1 of annex I), and make it available for consideration at the sixteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, scheduled for 30 April to 4 May 2012.

On Wednesday August 31, 2011 at 2pm US EDT, TNC will host a webinar on the Lionfish Invasion in the Caribbean. In this Webinar, they will look at what innovative solutions are being tested at national and regional scales to try and abate the lionfish threat.