French Version
Distribution of the world's coral reefs
Coral reefs, the largest bio-constructions on the planet, are located in the intertropical zone and cover around 284,300 km² (surface area strictly speaking: without the surfaces of the lagoons)1, which is barely more than half of metropolitan France. This natural heritage is rare, but it offers economic potential and a source of livelihood to more than 500 million people, or nearly 10 times the population of France and 8% of the world's population, spread over the hundred countries that are bordered by coral reefs.
Indonesia, with 51,020 km² of reef, is the largest coral formation region in the world, followed by Australia and its 48,960 km² of reefs, and then by the Philippines with 25,060 km² of reefs and France which, due to its overseas communities located in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, is placed in 4th position with 14,280 km² of coral reefs. These ecosystems are degraded by natural and anthropogenic actions, and it has now been established that 20% of the world's reefs have been destroyed and are showing no sign of recovery.
Source: Spalding, M. D., Ravilious, C. & Green, E. P. 2001. World Atlas of Coral Reefs. University of California Press, Berkeley, United States. 424 pp.
Gorgone de Nouvelle-Calédonie & Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus, 1766) © Franck Mazeas
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)
During the Rio congress in 1992, Agenda 21 of the various resolutions recognised the protection of coral reefs and associated ecosystems as one of the priority actions. Consequently, in 1994 the United States launched a multilateral action involving governments and organisations: the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), which was established in April 1995.
This initiative was founded by 8 countries: France, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Jamaica, the Philippines, and Sweden, and is a partnership between governments, international organisations and NGOs. Rapid mobilisation has enabled the establishment of a vast international movement of information, awareness in favour of the protection of the reefs, and the continuous monitoring of the health status of the reefs.
The ICRI is not an agency of means. Its objective is to generate actions in favour of reefs, such as, for example, the launch of the International Year of the Reef in 2008 which gave rise to many events, particularly in France. France ensured the ICRI's secretariat between 1999 and 2000, as well as between 2009 and 2011 with Samoa.
The French Initiative for Coral Reefs (IFRECOR)
Due to its communities overseas, France has an important responsibility in the management and recovery of coral reefs and associated ecosystems (mangroves and seagrass beds). In March 1999, on the Prime Minister's decision, the ministers responsible for the environment and overseas territories launched a national action in favour of the overseas communities' coral reefs by creating the French Initiative for Coral Reefs, a national arm of the ICRI.
IFRECOR is composed of a national committee and a network of 8 local committees representing the French communities which are home to coral reefs: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion, Mayotte, The Scattered Islands, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia. At their own level, each of the local committees and the national committee bring together all of the stakeholders affected by the protection and sustainable management of coral reefs. The secretariat of IFRECORS's national committee is provided by the Ministry of Ecology and the Ministry of Overseas Territories.
Every five years, in consultation with the local committees, the national committee develops a national plan of action which falls within the ICRI's framework and the national strategy of 1999, and includes the following six areas:
1. Planning
2. Reduction of the negative effects of human activities, while ensuring their sustainable development
3. Development of research, monitoring and decision-support tools
4. Information, training and education
5. Development of regulatory and financial means of action
6. Development of regional cooperation
Each area can be broken down into many actions, some of which are federating and have a cross-disciplinary nature - transversal themes of interest or TTI - for all of the overseas communities which, in addition to this national plan, apply their own local action plan.
Fakarava en Polynésie française & Récif corallien de Nouvelle-Calédonie © Franck Mazeas
The "Biodiversity of Coral Reefs" TTI
The "Biodiversity" transversal theme of interest is an IFRECOR cross-disciplinary programme that was implemented in 2008 by the Museum's overseas delegation, in collaboration with the UMS PatriNat (UMS 2006 Patrimoine Naturel - Natural Heritage Department). Its objective is to pool, bank and put overseas communities' reef biodiversity data on the INPN's website. In addition, a new objective for the development of reef habitat typologies was added in 2011.
IFRECOR has thus helped to initiate a dynamic around the marine biodiversity of the overseas communities within the UMS PatriNat, and in the French National Inventory for Natural Heritage. The work carried out has already resulted in the synthesis of knowledge and the enhancement of data provided by national and international experts through online updating. This data reflects both past and present knowledge, but also allows any gaps to be identified and any future inventories and studies to be directed.
The results of this work are summarised in the document downloadable at the following link
TIT brochure of "Biodiversity"
The links