Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

Status of Coral Reefs in South Asia
GCRMN SOUTH ASIA NODE
The South Asia node entered a second phase of activities in December 1999 following
the successful completion of Phase 1 in March 1999. Support for the node comes from
the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK with GBP327,400 as
an accountable grant to IOC-UNESCO over the next 2.5 years. The 3 core activities are:
1. support of demonstration site socioeconomic monitoring and the
implementation of Coral Reef Monitoring Action Plans;
2. training in biophysical survey design and data analysis, and in socioeconomic
monitoring; and
3. development of national and regional coral reef databases.
Biophysical monitoring capacity was expanded and strengthened during Phase 1
through training and pilot monitoring activities. Government and other project funds
(e.g. CORDIO) now support continued biophysical monitoring, however, routine
socioeconomic monitoring has not yet been established in the region, despite being
recognised as critical for management. Socioeconomic monitoring is therefore a priority
activity of Phase 2, with specific funds for monitoring at demonstration sites, where
biophysical monitoring is also taking place. Socioeconomic monitoring will also be
supported by on-site training in all aspects of resource use assessment. The Node is
designing national coral reef databases for the GCRMN based on ReefBase and other
successful databases (e.g. COREMAP), it is anticipated that all three countries will have
functional national databases by July 2001.
Node Contacts and Representatives:
• India: the Department of Ocean Development (Dr B.R. Subramanian e-mail:
brs@niot.ernet.in) and the Ministry of Forests and Environment (Dr E.V.
Muley e.mail: muley@vsnl.com);
• Maldives: the Marine Research Centre of the Ministry of Fisheries, Agriculture
and Marine Resources, (Hussein Zahir e.mail: marine@fishagri.gov.mv);
• Sri Lanka: National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency
(Arjan Rajasuriya, e-mail: arjan@nara.ac.lk) ; the Regional Coordinator is
Emma Whittingham, Address No.48 Vajira Road, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka; Tel:
+941 505 649 / 858; Fax: +941 580 202; E-Mail: reefmonitor@eureka.lk
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