The Ramsar Convention Bureau and IUCN - The World Conservation Union hosted the International Coral Reef Initiative's (ICRI) Coordinating and Planning Committee (CPC) Meeting in Gland, Switzerland the past 8-9 of May, in coordination with ICRI's Joint Philippines-Sweden Secretariat. The meeting featured country representatives from Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Malta, Mexico, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participating organizations and networks included the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the International Scientific Reef Studies (ISRS), IUCN - The World Conservation Union, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.
This fruitful meeting was highlighted by the transfer of the ICRI Secretariat to the United Kingdom for the next two year period, starting July 2003, with the Seychelles as the developing country co-host.