Hosting facilities at UNEP-WCMC

UNEP The UNEP Coral Reef Unit was established in 2000 as the focal point within UNEP and the UN system to promote policies and actions to protect coral reefs. CRU works with the Regional Seas Programme and other international partners from the conservation and business sectors. It implements UNEP’s Governing Council decisions, represents UNEP in the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) and associated operational networks, and administers contributions provided by governments in support of UNEP’s work.

CRU’s activities include:

cooperation in developing materials and activities to promote the political understanding of the importance of coral reefs, in particular in developing countries and small island developing states;
the review and integration of information on international policies;
supporting international collaboration;
promoting innovative partnerships to address new issues, such as cold-water coral reefs.

For more information about CRU and its activities, contact the head of CRU Stefan Hain

The UNEP Coral Reef Unit (CRU), the secretariat of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), the coordinating unit of the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN) and the UNEP-WCMC Marine and Coastal Programme have now come together in the UNEP-WCMC headquarters in Cambridge, UK. This creates a critical mass of resources and initiatives to address coral reef issues around the world more comprehensively.

ICRAN

The International Coral Reef Action Network is a collaborative effort designed to reverse the decline of the world's coral reefs. Supported by the United Nations Foundation (UNF), ICRAN consists of a set of inter-linked, complementary activities that will facilitate the proliferation of good practices for coral reef management and conservation. The project consists of a one-year start-up phase followed by a four-year action phase from 2001 to 2005.

ICRAN is now one of three operational units of the International Coral Reef Initiative. It joins the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and the International Coral Reef Information Network. The activities of ICRAN fall into three components: Management Action, Assessment and Communication. They combine strategic on-the-ground action with activities to provide crucial information necessary for the development of informed, supportive policy among nations with coral reefs. ICRAN will play a key supportive role in several national and international conservation and resource management programs.

Further information on ICRAN can be found on the ICRAN website at www.icran.org

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was launched in June 2001 and completed in March 2005. It was designed to improve the management of the world's natural and managed ecosystems. It does this by providing scientific information to decision-makers and the general public on the condition of ecosystems, the consequences of ecosystem change, and options for response. This information is peer-reviewed and policy-relevant.

The MA provides information and also builds human and institutional capacity to provide information. It is an integrative assessment, highlighting the linkages among climate, biodiversity, freshwater, marine and forest issues. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar) have all endorsed the MA as a joint assessment process to meet various information needs of the conventions.

The MA has been undertaken at multiple spatial scales. The design consists of a global assessment as well as assessments of conditions and change in ecosystems in individual communities, nations, and regions. Assessments at these sub-global scales are needed because ecosystems are highly differentiated in space and time and because sound management requires careful local planning and action. Local assessments alone are insufficient, however, because some processes are global and because local goods, services, matter, and energy are often transferred across regions. The sub-global assessments are designed to foster and build capacity for widespread adoption of integrated assessment approaches in other regions and nations.

The work programme of the MA has been co-ordinated by four working groups, covering “sub-global assessments”, “global condition”, “scenarios” and “response options”. The MA has been supported by a variety of co-executing institutions; UNEP-WCMC has given direct support in the co-ordination of the “condition” working group.

Further information on the MA can be found on the MA website at www.MAweb.org