Ultimate guide to managing coral disease
8 July 2008: The definitive management guide - handbook plus id cards for Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions - to identifying, assessing and managing coral reef diseases was launched at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) and can be ordered online now.
[Read media release] [Read summaries] [Order online] [Visit CRTR at ICRS booth 418]   
   

Top award for CRTR researcher
21 May 2008: CRTR Program researcher, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, has been awarded the Queensland Government’s top science award. Chair of the CRTR Bleaching Working Group, and also of its Australasian Centre of Excellence, Professor Hoegh-Guldberg was one of the world's first scientists to show how projected changes in global climate threaten coral reefs including Australia's Great Barrier Reef......
[Read UQ News]   
   

Indian Ocean coral shows partial recovery
15 May 2008: An unusual spike in sea temperatures a decade ago killed coral throughout the Indian Ocean, dropping the average healthy, hard coral cover to 15 percent of reefs from 40 percent before. CRTR researcher, Dr Tim McClanahan, said hard coral cover had recovered to 30 percent by 2005, although the data masked big variations.....
[Read Reuters Africa article]   
   

Strange days on planet earth
5 May 2008: The award winning National Geographic program Strange Days on Planet Earth recently premiered Episode 6 (Dirty Secrets). This features the CRTR Program’s Roberto Iglesias-Prieto and his colleagues in the Caribbean who are “studying how CO2, one of our largest industrial waste products, is impacting coral reefs”.
[Read article]   
   

Corals on the brink of .....
24 April 2008: Predicted mass spawning at Palau   (Philippines) was the subject of a feature on BBC News on 20 April. Much of the article focused on the reef restoration work of CRTR scientists Dr Andrew Heyward (“one of the first biologists to describe the phenomenon of coral mass spawning in the 1980s”) and Dr James Guest, along with Dr Maria Vanessa Baria from the University of the Philippines.
[Read article]   
   

 

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Who we are

The Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management Program (CRTR) is a leading international coral reef research initiative that provides a coordinated approach to credible, factual and scientifically-proven knowledge for improved coral reef management.

The CRTR Program is a partnership between the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, The University of Queensland (Australia), the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and approximately 50 research institutes and other third parties around the world.

The CRTR Program is co-ordinated across geographic nodes - Centres of Excellence – Philippines, Mexico, Zanzibar and Australia - that reflect the regional distribution of coral reefs and the management initiatives underway to conserve them. These regional nodes are the focal points for research carried out by international scientifists through coordinated Working Groups which address the following research themes:

The overall research framework ensures integration between the Working Groups and is overseen by a Synthesis Panel of key research leaders.

The issues

Coral reefs occupy only 0.1% of the ocean’s surface, yet they are the world’s richest repository of marine biodiversity. They are the largest living structures on Earth — the only natural communities distinctly visible from space. Complex and productive, coral reefs have survived over the course of more than 400 million years of evolution, and possess a remarkable richness, diversity of life and structure.

Within an equatorial band between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, coral reefs are the lifeblood of near-shore, tropical waters and play a key role for the coastal populations that depend on food and resources for daily livelihoods. Today, coral reefs around the world are in such serious decline that they put at risk the environmental and economic stability of many coastal nations. Of the 109 countries with significant coral reef communities, at least 93 are experiencing damage. Many coral reefs have reached a state of decline that they can no longer be considered as coral reefs, while others are under increasing threat from local human disturbances and impacts from a changing global climate.

While managers struggle to maintain a balance between use and conservation, we do not know enough about the fundamental factors affecting coral reefs in many areas to make practical management decisions. Nor do we have sufficient understanding to plan for changes brought about by the transformation of these ecosystems — especially over the next 30 years.

Today’s environmental problems are increasingly complex and intractable. There are many actions that can and are being undertaken to reverse negative trends for coral reefs, and to raise awareness of their importance to coastal societies, but the tools in the toolbox remain woefully inadequate in the face of multiple stresses.

This targeted research framework is systematically identifying information gaps, and prioritizing them in order of strategic importance to management, so that the resulting information and tools developed can lead to credible outcomes.

Our people

The CRTR is composed of leading international researchers from across the globe who are operating under the six scientific Working Groups and regional Centres of Excellence. Our people are:

Links

Akajima Marine Science Laboratory - Okinawa

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

Australian Coral Reef Society

Australian Institute of Marine Science - University Queensland

Chumbe Island Coral Park

CORDIO East Africa

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Institute of Marine Sciences, Tanzania

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

International Society for Reef Studies

IW:LEARN - International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network

International Year of the Reef, 2008

James Cook University

Marine Science Institute - University Philippines

Oceanography Society

ReefVid - free coral reef video clips for educational use

Reef Systems Unti, Puerto Morelos

SeaWeb

The Coral Reef Alliance

The Ocean Foundation

Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

 

 

 

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