The 10 commitments of the Coral Reef Life declaration

Coral Reef Life declaration is a statement in favor of the safeguarding of coral reefs. Carried by Prince Albert II of Monaco, it was presented at the OurOcean conference in Malta on 5 and 6 October 2017.

It recalls the commitment made at the United Nations Conference on the Ocean in June 2017 to protect life under water, ” because life over water depends on the health of life under water “.

 

Present on less than 0.2% of the total surface of the oceans, coral reefs allow hundreds of millions of people to live. Yet they are threatened with extinction by climate change and human activities.

To protect them, the Coral Reef Life declaration encourages signatory countries, on a voluntary basis, to follow these 10 main measures:

1 / PARTICIPATE IN THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE REEF (IYOR 2018) and show that coral reefs are a key indicator of the health of the oceans and the planet

2/ AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT COMMITMENTS AND
NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS, be conscious of the need for action to avoid damaging coral reefs any further and to help, through protection and conservation, reef-dependent people to adapt and increase ecological resilience to climate change

3/ ENCOURAGE THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) to highlight the role and fate of coral reef ecosystems, and to explore and promote solutions, in their preparation for the launch in September 2019 of its Special Report on Climate Change, Oceans and the Cryosphere

4/ PROMOTE HIGH-LEVEL MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH on the recent coral reef bleaching events,
with a view to understanding resilience and adaptation needs, be better prepared to predict future events and thus orient public policies

5/ SUPPORT LOCAL ADAPTATION AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES aimed at increasing the resilience
of coral reefs regionally

6/ AIM TO DEVELOP ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS that actively promote the health of coral reefs by engaging the private sector

7/ WORK WITH THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY to reduce coral-related investment risks

8/ IDENTIFY AND PROMOTE THE FINANCIAL BENEFITS OF INVESTING IN CORAL REEFS as assets of a sustainable blue economy

9/ ASK THE HOSTS OF THE 5th OUR OCEAN CONFERENCE to schedule a high level plenary session on
action for the enhancement of the resilience of coral reef environments, specifically on finance and capacity building at the scale needed to ensure that we do not lose these world’s most diverse ecosystem

10/ INVITE OTHER COUNTRIES to join this declaration.

Prince Albert II of Monaco has already been joined by the Prince of Wales, Queen Noor of Jordan, heads of state and government, ministers and high-level representatives from 12 countries. The declaration was signed by Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Grenada, Indonesia, Mexico, Monaco, Niue, Palau, French Polynesia and Seychelles, all of which have important reef zones. Some countries, such as France, have pledged to finance € 4.5 million of restoration and protection projects for the Pacific Islands.

Next important meeting for corals: the workshop on Acidification of the oceans at the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, on october 14-15 2017. Guillaume Holzer, co-founder of Coral Guardian, will be present. Follow us on Twitter.