Reefs At Risk

Many coastal communities in Latin America and the Caribbean depend on the resources provided by reefs for their livelihoods. The Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean project is a response to an information need. The primary goal is to raise awareness and improve management by improving the knowledge base on the status of and threats to coral reefs.

A global assessment of coral reefs at risk from overfishing, coastal development and other human activity. The study finds that nearly 60 per cent of the earth's reefs are threatened by human activity - ranging from coastal development and overfishing to inland and marine pollution - leaving much of the world's marine biodiversity at risk. In addition, the report concludes that while reefs provide billions of people and hundreds of countries with food, tourism revenue, coastal protection and new medications for increasingly drug-resistant diseases, they are among the least monitored and protected natural habitats in the world.

"Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and biologically productive ecosystems in the world. They play an integral part in the lives of the people of the South Pacific. South Pacific coastal communities depend on them for subsistence and income generation. Some of the South Pacific economies to large extent are also dependent on coral reefs, especially through the tourism sector." --Foreword.