Urgent action to save coral reefs from extinction

Important steps to protect the world’s endangered reefs have been made during Monaco Ocean Week, which began on Monday.

ICRI 2019 – ©DR

The International Coral Reef Initiative is an important aspect of MOW, which runs until 30th March. Monaco is co-presiding the initiative alongside Australia and Indonesia until 2020.

On 26th March, the event brought together more than 50 participants and recalled the main objectives of the ICRI 2018-2020 action plan, which was also endorsed recently at the 4th Assembly of Nations for the Environment.

As a result, the group has made recommendations for member states of the Convention on Biological Diversity concerning a new target for the preservation of coral reefs from 2020. It comes amid an urgent need to act to save the reefs, which are threatened with large-scale decline by 2050.

The meeting was also an opportunity to reiterate the involvement of ICRI in the Coral Reef Community of Ocean Action, which it co-chairs with the UN Environment and to present the results of projects co-financed by the Prince’s Government to promote the resilience of coral reefs and associated ecosystems.