Development of a coral reef management strategy within the framework of the UNEP/GEF South China Sea Project

The UNEP GEF Project entitled “Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand” was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by UNEP in partnership with seven riparian states bordering the South China Sea during 2002-2008. It was developed to address the priority concerns and issues identified in the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and encompas-sing actions under four components: habitat loss and degradation; land-based pollution; over-fishing in the Gulf of Thailand; and regional co-ordination. In the framework of the project, the Regional Working Group on Coral Reefs was established, including focal points from participating countries and regional experts. In collaboration with the National Committees on Coral Reefs, national data were provided to develop a regional database, including meta-database with some hundreds of entries and GIS data providing information of 43 coral reefs sites. A Strategic Action Programme (SAP) was developed through an iterative process with activities at the national level feeding into the regional review process, which in turn provided advice and guidance to the national entities in finalising their draft inputs to the regional SAP. A key element in this process was the development of detailed National Action Plans (NAP) by each country that addressed the specific concerns and issues. In the case of the coral reef sub-component, common goals of NAPs are to sustain coral reefs for biodiversity conservation and wise use. Contents of the NAPs were analysed and the identified national actions and priorities were included in the SAP to enable a shared vision regarding actions needed at the regional level in support of national actions. The specific targets for coral reef management developed in the SAP are: (1) By 2015, at least 70% of the existing area of coral reefs in the 83 target coral reef sites (153,000 ha) to be put under an appropriate form of sustainable management; (2) By 2015, reduce the regional decadal rate of degradation in live coral cover from the present rate of 16% to 5%.