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