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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Funding for reef monitoring among hurdles ahead for scientists |09 May 2005

Funding for reef monitoring among hurdles ahead for scientists

Mr Payet (foreground) on the final day of talks at the ICRI meeting

Environment principal secretary Rolph Payet, the outgoing ICRI co-chairman, told Nation that the worldwide coral reef body would be trying to help countries find ways to integrate the economic value of their coral reef assets with conservation and monitoring practices.

Diving centre involvement and user fees for marine park access could be among the options.
“Governments don’t have budgets for this type of thing,” Mr Payet said, referring to sustainable scientific monitoring of coral reefs.

A number of emerging scientific topics surrounding reefs were also discussed at the meeting, such as how coral loss can cause wave action along coastlines to increase, a danger that could severely impact coastal communities and islands, especially coupled with climate change and sea level rise, Mr Payet said.

Other areas of study include invasive marine species on reef systems – for which a study is currently being conducted by the World Conservation Union – and how increasing carbon dioxide in oceans can break down corals.

Mr Payet said ICRI would also like to be able to guide governments on what viable practices to keep reef loss to a minimum are available, as there have been some unfounded “miracle cures and contraptions” proposed by some companies that may actually do more harm than good.

ICRI will be prioritising those and other issues to allocate funding toward the most important initiatives, he added.

But while funding hurdles were a hot topic at the conference, good news at the meetings did come in the form of a pledge from the French government to supply between 2-3 million Euros for a project to network marine protected areas in the Indian Ocean. The project will be carried out by the World Wildlife Fund and the Indian Ocean Commission.

On the final day of talks, Mr Payet said, ICRI also looked into how small island developing states could be specifically assisted with coral reef issues, as well as how the December 26 tsunami affected corals in the region.

A formal SIDS strategy is expected to be finalised at the next ICRI meeting in Palau, and the Coral Reef Degradation in the Indian Ocean (Cordio) programme is expected to perform a study in the Nicobar and Andaman Islands, which were hit especially hard by the tidal waves.

The ICRI meeting, which was hosted by the Plantation Club, regrouped some 80 delegates from countries and action groups from across the world.

Despite having relinquished its co-chairmanship of ICRI with the UK to Japan and the island nation of Palau, Mr Payet said Seychelles would still play an important role with the organisation, as Palau had asked for the country’s assistance.

 

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