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About - GEF Coral

The Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building for Management Project.

Over the past ten years, an increasing awareness of the importance of coral reefs has been evident, especially in light of their rapid decline in many regions and their significance to developing countries. However, what remains fundamentally unknown about these ecosystems is alarming, especially when management interventions are becoming increasingly important.

In addressing the issues confronting the decline of coral reefs worldwide, the CRTR Project seeks to coordinate and target research for the first time in the global community’s history.

It will establish a global network of eminent coral reef scientists working together across disciplines and regions so that:

1. Key knowledge gaps can be systematically addressed to reduce uncertainty in the context of management,
2. Targeted research is multidisciplinary, drawing on a blend of biophysical and social sciences,
3. The research is integrated across space and time to allow for a synoptic view of coral reef ecosystem dynamics in response to stress at local, regional and global scales, and
4. Research findings are effectively communicated to decision-makers.

A $20 million program of research funded by a public sector alliance:

• World Bank
• The Global Environment Facility
• NOAA
• International Oceanograhic Commission (IOC UNESCO)
• The Queensland Government
• The University of Queensland

The trigger for the Project was concern about climate change and unprecedented sea temperature increases and their effects on the health of the world’s coral reefs.

The Project is a high priority global initiative that will accelerate and refine a global response to understanding the science underlying these environmental temperature crises and how we manage them on coral reefs.

• 80 of the world’s leading scientists (members)
• 6 working groups at 4 international Centres of Excellence
• Support from four leading international research institutes
• • University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
  • University of the Philippines
  • The University of Queensland, Australia

The working groups will each address a nominated research theme:

• Bleaching and local ecological responses
• Disease
• Connectivity and large-scale ecological processes
• Restoration and remediation
• Remote sensing
• Modelling and decision support tools.