Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

Sponsoring Organisations, Coral Reef Programmes and Monitoring Networks
ICLARM - THE WORLD FISH CENTER
ICLARM is committed to contributing to food security and poverty eradication in
developing countries. ICLARM efforts focus on benefiting poor people, and conserving
aquatic resources and the environment. The organisation aims for poverty eradication; a
healthier, better nourished human family; reduced pressure on fragile natural resources; and
people-centered policies for sustainable development. ICLARM is an autonomous,
nongovernmental, nonprofit organisation, established as an international centre in 1977,
with headquarters in the Philippines. ICLARM headquarters relocated to Penang, Malaysia, in
early 2000. The new headquarters will be a focal point for international efforts to tackle the
major aquatic challenges affecting the developing world and to demonstrate solutions to
resources managers worldwide. Contact: PO Box 500 GPO, 10670 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: (604) 641 4623; Fax: (604) 643 4463; Web site: www.cgiar.org/iclarm/
ICRI - INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF INITIATIVE
ICRI was launched in 1994 as a response to the UNCED Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the
concerns of Small Island Developing States expressed at a meeting in Barbados in 1993
about the declining status of coral reef resources. ICRI was built as a partnership of 8
founding countries under the initiative of the US State Department (Australia, France,
Jamaica, Japan, Philippines, Sweden, UK and USA) along with CORAL, IOC-UNESCO,
IUCN, UNDP, UNEP, the World Bank, with the objectives of mobilising global support for
coral reef actions, often using diplomatic and international flora. The USA chaired the first
ICRI Secretariat in 1995-96, followed by Australia in 1997-98, and France in 1999-2000. It is
anticipated that the Secretariat will pass to the Philippines assisted by Sweden for 2001-
02. ICRI held an international workshop in the Philippines in May 1995 with participation of
over 40 countries, NGOs, researchers and private sector to develop A Call to Action and
a Framework for Action. The major themes were: Integrated Coastal Management;
Capacity Building; Research and Monitoring; and Reviewing Progress. The GCRMN was
initiated at that meeting to meet the 3 rd theme. Eight Regional ICRI workshops followed to
assemble the concerns and priorities for action from over 100 countries. These action
priorities were revised and consolidated in 1998 at the International Tropical Marine
Ecosystems Management Symposium (ITMEMS) in Townsville Australia to produce a
Renewed Call to Action.
ICRI represents coral reef partners on international fora, such as: the UNEP and IOC
governing councils, Conventions on Sustainable Development, Biological Diversity,
Framework Convention on Climate Change; Global Meetings of Regional Seas Conventions
and Action Plans, Global Plan of Action to Protect the Marine Environment from Land-based
Activities, Global Conference on Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing
States, CITES. The GCRMN was the first operational unit of ICRI, and two more are being
formed: ICRIN – the Information Network; and ICRAN – the Action Network. ICRAN was
initiated by ICLARM and UNEP to create a global network of successful integrated coastal
management and marine protected area models for expanded action. Membership of the
ICRI Coordination and Planning Committee includes the countries and agencies above plus
all Regional Seas Units of UNEP and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme
(SPREP), ICLARM, WWF, CBD, Ramsar, US Coral Reef Task Force, the French national
committee (IFRECOR), International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS), and the Marine
Aquarium Council (MAC).
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