Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Involved with Coral Reefs

Overview

NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) operate independently of traditional government bodies and programs at the local, domestic and international level to manage, protect and restore coral reefs. Consisting of both volunteers and professional scientists/organizers, they use public and private funding to carry out a variety of programs aimed at augmenting and improving existing governmental and intern-governmental efforts. NGOs that work to conserve reefs focus primarily on Protection (preventing existing reefs from being destroyed), Rehabilitation (restoring reefs that have been damaged directly or indirectly by human activity) and Research (understanding the nature of Coral Reef ecosystems so that they may be better protected in the future), (Raney 2005, pg. 3)

Common Features

Public awareness: most organizations (CRA, CRMN) emphasize public education and awareness as a means of fostering support for conservation
Domestic vs. international: While the majority of Coral Reef NGO's are small and limited to a single biome, many pursue their goals across borders
Community Involvement: CRA, Reef Check and other organizations with global impact rely heavily on volunteer subgroups operating near individual reefs

Organizations

Protection

Coral Reef Alliance: International organization working to promote non-destructive reef use

Provides Micro-grants to local groups working to protect nearby reefs
- Reef resiliency
Awareness programs in critical areas
Marine Protected Areas (flagship program)
- Effective, though often plagued by poor management (Wells, 2006)
Promotes Recreational Tourism

Reef Relief Founders

Research

Operation Wallacea

Four setup strategy
- Ecosystem assessment (diversity/function)
- Monitor Ecosystem change
- Monitor socioeconomic change
- Establish and monitor management programs

Carmabi Foundation: Caribbean based (Carambi Report, pg. 15)

One of the very first marine research institutes (established 1957)
Study fringing reefs of Curacao
Operates Curacao Marine Park

Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network

Ecological and Socioeconomic monitoring to provide holistic picture of reef management
Employ a network of experts to analyze and disseminate information
Regions organized into 17 nodes

Rehabilitation

Reef Ball Foundation: produces concrete 'Reef Balls' that serve as anchors for future reef growth

Various sizes to suit varied locales
Over 500,000 Reef Balls in 60 countries
Used to rehabilitate Mangrove Swamps, prevent beach erosion

SECORE

Coral breeding
Substrate tiles for settlement
- Very expensive approach, up to $100 Million per hectare for extensive restoration (Zimmer, 47)
Acrapora restoration in Curacao (Secore foundation website)

Coral Restoration Foundation

Offshore nurseries for threatened coral species
- Staghorn Coral
- Elkhorn Coral
Public awareness programs

Interactive Organization

ReefBase: A Global Information System For Coral Reefs

GIS Interactive Map
- A Geographic Information System (GIS) which is an interactive database that allows for users to access information about coral reefs ranging from locations, diseases-specific diseases, reefs at risk to a variety of disasters and marine protected areas.

http://reefgis.reefbase.org/

Digital Map Gallery
- Provides maps that have already been created for use in building new databases.

http://www.reefbase.org/gis_maps/gallery.aspx

Photo Gallery
- In this section the user can search for coral reef related images. In addition to upload images from the user to add to the existing database.

http://www.reefbase.org/resource_center/photos.aspx

References

Brown, Barry. "Acropora Restoration Project Curacao." Secore Foundation. SECORE Foundation, 2009, Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
"Carambi Annual Report 2011" Carambi Foundation. Ed. Stokkermans, Vermeij, De Freitas, and Matthëus, 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.
Côté, Isabelle M., and John D. Reynolds. "Status of Coral Reefs of the World: Summary of Threats and Remedial Action." Coral Reef Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006. N. pag. Print.
Raney, Dave. "United States Coral Reef Task Force." U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Homepage. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization, Nov. 2005. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
M. Tupper, M.K. Tan, S.L. Tan, M.J. Radius, S. Abdullah. ReefBase: A Global Information System on Coral Reefs [Online]. Available from: http://www.reefbase.org [Accessed: Web. March 2013.
Wells, Sue. "Assessing the Effectiveness of MPAs." Ed. Isabelle M. Côté and John D. Reynolds. Coral Reef Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006. N. pag. Print.
Zimmer, Beth. "Coral Reef Restoration: An Overview." Coral Reef Restoration Handbook. Ed. William F. Precht. Boca Raton, FL: CRC/Taylor & Francis, 2006. N. pag. Print.