IUCN calls for urgent measures to preserve coral reefs

A new report presented at the 2012 IUCN World Conservation Congress called on Friday for urgent measures to preserve coral reefs in the Caribbean.

Hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) every four years, this year's gathering began a 10-day run Thursday on South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju, with more than 10,000 leaders and environment experts from around the globe attending.

The report said urgent measures must be taken to limit pollution and regulate aggressive fishing practices that threaten Caribbean coral reef ecosystems.

"The major causes of coral decline are well known and include overfishing, pollution, disease and bleaching caused by rising temperatures resulting from the burning of fossil fuels," said Carl Gustaf Lundin, director of the IUCN's Global Marine and Polar Program.

"Looking forward, there is an urgent need to immediately and drastically reduce all human impacts if coral reefs and the vitally important fisheries that depend on them are to survive in the decades to come," he added.

The IUCN is calling for strictly enforced local action to improve the health of corals, including limits on fishing through catch quotas, an extension of marine protected areas, a halt to nutrient runoff from land and a reduction on the global reliance on fossil fuels.

Through the IUCN-coordinated Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, there are also moves to strengthen the data available concerning coral reef decline at a worldwide level.

“We need simple universal metrics for the status and trends of coral reefs worldwide and a central repository for coral reef data that is freely and easily accessible to everyone,”said Jeremy Jackson, Science Director, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.

“We are rising to this challenge by extending the methodology of our Caribbean analysis throughout all tropical seas. Results of these separate studies will be posted online as they are completed and will provide a global synthesis by 2016," he added. (Yonhap)