Bangkok,
February 15, 2002-
The high value and vulnerability of coral reef communities and dugong populations
in Asia have been described this week in three new reports, prepared with the
supported of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The
world's top 10 coral reef hotspots have been identified for the first time in
a study published in today's issue of Science magazine.
Ranked according
to the degree of threat they are: 1) Philippines; 2) Gulf of Guinea; 3) Sunda
Islands; 4) Southern Mascarene Islands; 5) Eastern South Africa; 6) Northern
Indian Ocean; 7) Southern Japan, Taiwan and southern China; 8) Cape Verde Islands;
9) Western Caribbean; 10) Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The report - prepared for Conservation International in Washington DC - identified global priority areas for coral reef conservation by mapping the geographic ranges of 1700 species of reef fish, 804 species of coral, 662 species of snail and 69 species of lobster and comparing them to known threats to coral reefs from human impacts.
The report authors say it should help create targeted conservation strategies and contradict the notion that marine species can't become extinct because of their vast geographic ranges in the oceans.
These 10 hotspots contain just 24 percent of the world's coral reefs, or 0.017 percent of the oceans, but claim 34 percent of restricted-range (endemic) species.
Meanwhile, a new report from the World Resources Institute shows that 88 percent of Southeast Asia's coral reefs are severely threatened by human activities: mainly over-fishing, destructive fishing, and sedimentation and pollution from land-based activities.
The report also estimates that the sustainable value of Southeast Asia's coral reef fisheries is US$2.4 billion annually. If ecosystem services like tourism and shoreline protection are included, the figure is greater.
The total economic value for Indonesia, with the largest coral reef systems in the region, is estimated at US$1.6 billion annually. The Philippines comes second with an annual estimated value of US$1.1 billion.
About 64 percent of Southeast Asia's reefs are threatened by over-fishing, with Cambodia, Japan and the Philippines exceeding 70 percent.
Destructive fishing practices, like the use of poison and dynamites, threaten an estimated 56 percent of the region's coral reefs. The threat is particularly high in the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, and in Vietnam. Over two-thirds of the reefs in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan, as well as over 50 percent of those in Indonesia are threatened by destructive fishing.
In addition, sedimentation and pollution associated with coastal development and changes in land use place 37 percent of the region's reefs at risk.
The report draws on a database of information compiled by over 35 scientists, and uses new standardized indicators and sophisticated computer software to map the distribution of reefs against the degree of threats.
The report recommends:
The report also concludes that effective management is key to maintaining coastal resources, but this is inadequate across much of Southeast Asia. Of the 332 Marine Protected Areas whose management status could be determined, only 14 percent were rated as effectively managed.
Although management requires additional investments, the cost of inaction is even higher. Over a 20-year period, current levels of blast fishing, over-fishing, and sedimentation could cost Indonesia and the Philippines more than US$ 2.6 billion and US$ 2.5 billion, respectively, the report finds.
The first global report on the plight of the Dugong (or sea cow) was released Tuesday by UNEP at the Global Ministerial Environment Forum currently being held in Cartegena, Colombia.
The new study - The Dugong (Dugong dugon): Status Report and Action Plans for Countries and Territories in its Range - indicates that rising pollution from land, coastal developments, boat traffic and fishing nets are contributing to a decline in the dugong's fortunes.
Hunting for meat, amulets and trophies may be adding to these pressures, and the report makes urgent recommendations aimed at boosting populations of the slow-breeding, herbivorous mammals.
These focus on the protection of seagrass beds, which dugongs depend for food, and in many areas of the world are being cleared for development or smothered by silt and mud as a result of run off due to overgrazing, intensive agriculture and deforestation.
Dugongs appear to have disappeared or already become extinct in some places such as the waters off Mauritius, the Seychelles, western Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Japan's Sakishima Shoto Islands, Hong Kong's Pearl River estuary, several islands in the Philippines including Zambales and Cebu, and parts of Cambodia and Vietnam.
Elsewhere populations appear to be declining with the possible exception of northern Australian waters and those of the Red Sea area and Arabian Gulf.
END
Editor Notes
Further information and contact spokespeople for each of these reports please contact Tim Higham, Regional Information Officer, UNEP, Bangkok, phone +66 2 288 2127, email higham@un.org.
Coral Hotspots:
For copies of the Science paper, contact AAAS News & Information on phone
+1-202-326-6440, email scipak@aaas.org
Lead author Dr Callum Roberts, University of York, email cr10@york.ac.uk
or Mark Spalding at UNEP-WCMC, phone +44 (0)1223 277314, e-mail mark.spalding@unep-wcmc.org,
Pamela Moyer, Conservation International, on phone +1-202-912-1294, email
p.moyer@conservation.org
Reefs at Risk:
South East Asia:
Adlai Amor, Media Director, WRI, phone +1 202-729-7736, email aamor@wri.org,
http://www.wri.org/wri, Lauretta Burke,
WRI, phone +1 (202) 729 7774, lauretta@wri.org,
or Jamie Oliver, ICLARM, Penang, Malaysia, phone + 604 626 1606, j.oliver@cgiar.org,
www.cgiar.org/iclarm
Dugong Status
Report
Global release available from the'media room' at www.unep.org Download full
report at http://www.unep.org/dewa/water/
Thailand dugong status report (English and Thai language) available from Tim
Higham. Action plan coordinator - Helene Marsh, James Cook University, Townsville,
Australia, Tel: +61 7 747277502, e-mail: helene.marsh@jcu.edu.au.
Illustrative material - photographs and maps - from the UNEP-WCMC Coral Reef Atlas are available at: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/marine/coralatlas/presspack/
UNEP coral and marine activities - As part of its contribution to the global campaign to conserve corals, UNEP is a partner in ICRAN, the International Coral Reef Action Network. ICRAN is the most important global initiative to respond to the challenges of reversing the decline in coral reefs. The action phase of ICRAN was recently launched with a major grant from the United Nations Foundation (see http://www.icran.org).
Much of UNEP's marine conservation work in this region is coordinated East Asian Seas Regional Coordinating Unit; Dr Hugh Kirkman, Coordinator, phone (662) 288-1860, email: kirkman.unescap@un.org
UNEP also has a Coral Reef Unit (see http://www.unep.ch/coral.htm) and is working actively to promote responsible tourism in coral areas, and other sensitive environments, via its Tour Operators Initiative (see http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/)
UNEP News Release ROAP 2002/05