World Oceans Day 2020: Mapping the Commonwealth one coral reef at a time

8 June 2020

Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group on Ocean and Climate Change

Mr. Taholo Kami

Special Representative on Oceans for the Ministry of Economy

Fiji

Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group on Mangrove Ecosystems and Livelihood

Ms. Hasanthi Dissanayake

Director General, Ocean Affairs, Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Sri Lanka

Dr. Sevvandi Jayakody

Senior Lecturer, Department of Aquaculture & Fisheries,

Wayamba University of Sri Lanka

Ocean is our life, Let’s keep it aliveCommitments from Sri Lanka

2018

➢ At the CHOGM in London, Commonwealth Blue Charter was launched and Sri Lanka undertook to champion the Action Group on Mangrove Ecosystems and Livelihoods.

➢ First Meeting of the Mangrove Ecosystems and Livelihoods Action Group was held in Sri Lanka.

➢ Adoption of an Action Plan with 10 Commonwealth countries participating in the First Meeting.

➢ Approx. 17,000 ha of coastal areas gazetted under the Forest Ordinance in Sri Lanka.

2019 and 2020

• 790,900 seedlings of various true mangrove were produced and 418,560 were planted

• Creating awareness among local communities and children about importance of mangroves

• Identifying stakeholders by the Ministry of Environment and expanding the Task Force

• Developing guidelines for mangroves conservation and protection• Documenting science-based conservation and restoration practices• Training Forest Officers including on-sight training• Distribution of the book on “Guide to Mangroves of Sri Lanka”• The National Policy on Mangroves was approved by the Cabinet of

Ministers

Commonwealth Blue Charterfor multilateral collaboration and

meaningful progress to restore mangroves for all

Evidence based restoration of coastal ecosystems:

A story of global and national collaborations

A rich history of protecting the precious ecosystemsNational Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan (NBSAP)

2016-2022

Increase Sri Lanka’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) and ensure at least 10% of coastal and marine areas are protected

Demarcation of core area of Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary

Restoration of abandoned shrimp farms and salterns: Reviving mangroves

Gazetting of Kayankerni Marine Reserve

• Vulcan Inc. of USA and and Blue Resources Trust of Sri Lanka validated the satellite imagery for shallow reef mapping

• Reef was declared as a protected area in 2019

Public and private partnerships for “ Eyes over coastal ecosystems”

Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group on Coral Reef Protection and Restoration

Ms. Amanda Brigdale, Assistant Director, Environment, Oceans and Climate Diplomacy, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia

Dr. Roger Beeden, Director – Reef Knowledge, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Dr. David Souter, Chief Research Officer, Australian Institute of Marine Science

BLUE CHARTER CORAL REEF PROTECTION & RESTORATION ACTION GROUP

AUSTRALIA-BELIZE-MAURITIUS

Management Policy & Governance

Compliance Monitoring & Reporting

Integrated Threat Management

Restoration

PARTNERSHIPS – ENGAGEMENT – CAPABILITY BUILDING – BEST PRACTICE – LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

3D Mapping for Management

Since 1975, GBRMPA has sustainably managed the

Great Barrier Reef using the best available science.

Goal:

A healthy Reef for future generations

Resilience ActionsRisks to the Reef

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

3D Mapping for Management

Reef 2050 “Knowledge System”

2016/17 mass

coral bleaching response

Reef 2050

Integrated

Monitoring

(Modelling) and

Reporting Program

Resilience actions require 3D, high resolution

maps to be effective

GBR: 344,000km2, (Italy / Japan), ~12,500km3 ,~3000 individual reefs, ~900 islandsProtected area network: 33% no take

Current maps are based on 1990’s aerial and limited satellite imagery.

Dec 2020: Reef-wide maps to guide Reef 2050 & Blueprint for Resilience actions.

GBRMPA: 3D Mapping for Management

Seafloor Habitat Coral Types

Existing Data

New Derived Data(10 m x 10 m grid)

Landsat Imagery (30 m grid)

Water depth (100 m grid)

Bioregional

Dry / shallow reef area

Geomorphic reef type (Hopley et al)

Water Depth

Wave climate

Geomorphic

Bottom type (reef top)

Coral type (slope)

GBRMPA: 3D Mapping for Management

A Healthy Reef for Future Generations

GBRMPA: 3D Mapping for Management

Guidance for actions over 348,000km2 GBRWHA

• Underpin resilience potential mapping of all 3000 reefs

• Compliance targeting to high priority areas

• COTS control targeted to areas of high plate coral cover

• Protection of areas of “keystone” coral species (plates)

• Identify areas that are suitable for restoration

The same science underpins the Vulcan’s Allen Coral Atlas

Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network

• Established in 1995

• An operational network of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)

• Worldwide network of coral reef scientists, managers, and organizations

• Primary role is to report on status and trends of coral reefs worldwide

• Led by the ICRI Secretariat (Australia, Monaco, Indonesia) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)

• Supported by the Australia, Monaco, UNEP

GCRMN Status of Coral Reefs of the World

• Flagship product of the GCRMN

• 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2020• High impact among scientific, NGO, government, and United Nations

communities• GCRMN is the primary vehicle for monitoring progress toward coral reef-

related Sustainable Development Goals (13 & 14) and CBD Aichi Biodiversity Targets (Target 10)

Collaboration between GCRMN and Allen Coral Atlas

• Allen Coral Atlas developing maps of coral reef extent and geomorphological zones

• Accuracy of maps and areas relies on field data

• GCRMN can provide global-scale field data to validate algorithms

• Knowledge of reef area critical for analyses of the Status of Coral Reefs of the World

• GCRMN is a vehicle to expand the impact of the Atlas

Allen Coral Atlas

Mr. Charlie Whiton

Director, Product Management, Vulcan Inc.

The Allen Coral AtlasA New Tool for Coral Conservation

KOMODO, INDONESIA CREDIT: BETH WATSON/ CORAL REEF IMAGE BANK

Developing the first ever

global, high resolution map

and dynamically updated

monitoring system of the

world’s shallow coral reefs.

Mission

Mapping:

~75% of reefs have never been mapped

Local monitoring:

Huge spatial and temporal gaps exist

Mapping and monitoring:

Airplane and SCUBA surveys are expensive and difficult to scale

Status of coral reef mapping and monitoring

Progress so far

6 km

Moorea

French Polynesia

2 km

Heron Island

Australia

6 km

Karimunjawa

Indonesia

2 km

Kayankerni

Sri Lanka

10 km

Lighthouse Reef

Belize

40 km

Big Island

Hawaii

78

9

10

11

1

2

34

5

6

7 8 9 10 11Central, GBR, Australia Fiji, SW Pacific West Micronesia N. Caribbean & Bahamas East Africa

Maps of the entire globe by mid-2021

West Indian Ocean

Andaman Sea

Timor Sea

Eastern PNG, Solomon Islands

South Asia

Philippines

Indonesian Archipelago

Central Indian Ocean

China Sea

Mesoamerica

Coral Sea

Red Sea

Demo

Creating impact with the

Allen Coral Atlas

Three main types of users:

• Decision makers

• Scientists

• Local community

- Country-wide analyses

- Identifying region by region

statistics

- Marine Spatial Planning

(MSP) efforts (e.g. Vanuatu)

- Country-wide Marine Action

Plans (e.g. Mozambique)

How can the Atlas support

decision makers?

How can the Atlas help

Coral Scientists?

- Identifying priority sites for

habitat restoration

- Assessing conservation

efforts remotely

- Supporting decision

makers with data analysis

How can the Atlas help engage

the local community?

- Development of Locally Managed

Marine Areas (LMMAs)

- Discuss scenarios

- Provide supporting data for

effective and efficient

stakeholder meetings

- Coordinate a feedback loop

- Identifying remote reefs

“These maps are very important to

our country, as we have a data gap

and need more information for our

marine spatial plan”

– Zau Lunn, Myanmar

Change detection…

- brightening (alerts of

potential bleaching)

- turbidity

-With an on-the-ground

network, building on existing

and trusted networks.

Next Steps

Prototype only

Thank you!

World Oceans Day 2020: Mapping the Commonwealth one coral reef at a time

8 June 2020