Green Light For Reef Rescue
Added to website: 02 February 2002
If you have always wanted to do your bit to help save the world’s threatened coral reefs, 2002 may well be the year you’ve been waiting for. Heralded by the United Nations as International Year of Ecotourism, 2002 marks the launch of two major conservation projects by award-winning expedition specialists, Coral Cay Conservation (CCC).
On 20 February at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, broadcaster and writer, Mariella Frostrup, introduces CCC’s president, Professor David Bellamy, who will give the green light to pioneering expeditions in Fiji and the Philippines. Both expeditions will provide unique opportunities for adventurous volunteers from the UK and abroad to survey and help protect some of the world’s most endangered coral reefs. “Coral reefs are nature’s very own front-line sea defences,” enthuses Bellamy. “Self-building, self-repairing and solar-powered, they do the job for free and provide homes for more than a third of all fish species.”
However, like rainforests, coral reefs are vanishing at an alarming rate. Some scientists predict that current trends in pollution, over-fishing and other impacts could destroy most of them within 50-100 years. This would be a disaster for one of earth’s most beautiful and important ecosystems, and a devastating blow to millions of local people who rely on coral reefs for basic necessities such as food and livelihood.
Since 1986, thousands of CCC volunteers have helped establish numerous marine reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and even a World Heritage Site - all with the emphasis on working with local communities to sustain livelihoods while ensuring the long-term protection, restoration and management of coral reefs.
Bellamy is convinced that CCC’s new projects can achieve the same positive results. “If we can help put Fiji’s environment back into working order,” he says, “not only will Fiji have a sustainable economy, but my grandchildren will be able to come and see Fiji and its reefs as I knew them 20 years ago.”
