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Two-thirds of all reefs are in developing countries, and an estimated 500 million people in the tropics depend heavily on reefs for food, livelihoods, coastal protection, and other basic needs. In some developing countries, particularly in Asia, fish and other reef-based organisms provide a quarter of the total food supply and up to 60 percent of all protein consumption.
According to a 2004 status report by the IUCN World Conservation Congress, more than half (58 percent) of all the world’s coral reefs are at risk from the effects of disease, pollution, over harvesting of fish and other organisms, natural disasters, and global warming. In Southeast Asia alone, which has nearly a third of all the world’s coral reefs, 90 percent of all reefs are heavily damaged or endangered.
Launched in 2002 and developed jointly with the International Coral Reef Action Network, ReefBase facilitates research and global monitoring of coral reefs. WorldFish's ReefBase is now the world's largest repository of information on coral reefs. The website is a dynamic resource with quality information on the location, status, threats monitoring, and management of coral reefs in over 120 countries and territories, and is therefore a valuable tool for managers, policy makers, researchers, conservationists, educators and students.
It includes an online library of coral reef related publications, containing over 25,000 references, including more than 5,000 downloadable publications, access to over 4,000 images and the ability to create custom maps. In 2004 ReefBase’s interactive GIS-based mapping tool was judged the “best online mapping application” by Microsoft and Directions Magazine.
In 2007, the ReefBase completed the first complete survey of Coral Reef Marine Protected Areas in East Asia and Micronesia. This information is now available online via a database and interactive GIS maps, and is also available on DVD.
ReefBase also hosts the Global Environment Facility-funded project “Lessons Learned and Best Practices in the Management of Coral Reefs.” This project aims to create an online network of coral reef managers and professionals, and an online knowledge base, including a manager’s “best practices” guide and tool kit.
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