Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2000
Only Bangladesh has information on recent sea level rise of 5.18mm per year in the Khulna
region. If the predicted rises do occur, 50-70% of the mangroves will be adversely affected
by 2050 due to inundation. In India there is a lack of awareness amongst the government
and local population of the potential impact of bleaching on the reefs and the link to
climate change. More efforts in India are needed to address climate change issues and to
improve awareness. The low lying atolls of the Maldives, Lakshadweep, Chagos and river
deltas areas (e.g. Bangladesh and Gulf of Kutch) are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise
and potential climate change impacts. Coastal inundation, saline intrusion of fresh
groundwater and coastal erosion are among the most serious impacts. The majority of all
large urban centres in Sri Lanka are coastal, occupying 24% of the total land area and
containing 32% of the population, and 67% of the industrial areas. Therefore, any sea level
rise due to climate change will adversely affect the cities and agricultural and industrial
lands due to saltwater intrusion. Currently there is significant coastal erosion along the
western and southern coast of Sri Lanka and more erosion problems may be expected in
the future.
STATUS AND GAPS OF MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MPAS), MONITORING AND CAPACITY
Marine protected areas are not well managed across South Asia and there has been little
improvement in the past 5 years, despite the recent declaration of Rani Jansi Marine
National Park in the Andamans and 10 new protected sites in the Maldives. Moreover, these
recent inclusions are placing increasing pressures on the already weak management
systems, which lack motivation, trained personnel, equipment and funding. Implementation
and enforcement of protected area management plans and regulations is generally poor or
absent, and in some cases impossible because marine reserves typically lack physical
boundary markers e.g. Hikkaduwa Nature Reserve, Sri Lanka. More importantly there are
usually no alternative sources of income for those dependent on the resources from the
protected areas. The problems with protected area and marine resource management are
particularly serious in Sri Lanka, the Gulf of Mannar, and the Gulf of Kutch regions in India,
and Bangladesh. MPA problems are less severe in the Maldives, much of the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, and the Lakshadweep Islands, primarily due to low population densities in
these areas.
In spite of the above MPA scenarios, capacity to monitor reefs has improved in South Asia,
particularly in India following training programmes conducted through the GCRMN South
Asia Node, and more recently by the Indian Coral Reef Monitoring Network (ICRMN).
Improvements are particularly evident as illustrated by the increasing level of information in
national status reports, and a marked increase in data during the past 3 years. However, a
capacity for reef management beyond monitoring has not improved and coral reefs
continue to degrade in the region.
Bangladesh
St. Martin’s Island has been identified for protection and management under the National
Conservation Strategy of Bangladesh, but no analysis and identification of key sites has been
carried out. There are no management plans and no trained staff to undertake conservation,
therefore destructive human activities continue to degrade the reef resources. As there are
no baseline data on St Martin’s Island, surveys and taxonomic knowledge are needed,
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