Coral Reef Monitoring Network in Member States of the Indian Ocean Commission (COI), within the Global Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)

9. Project rationale and objectives: Goal : to assist in the conservation of the high biodiversity of coral reefs and their socio-economic value, and in the sustainable management of their resources, through a monitoring network. Objectives : - to link, in a coral reef network, stakeholders of the Indian Ocean islands, - to provide, in the form of decision-making tools for the integrated management of coastal zones, information and data on status and trends of coral reefs for their conservation and sustainable management, - to participate in the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and help to achieve its objectives. - to bring to the attention of the international community COI activities in the environment sector 10. Project outcomes: - Setting up of a durable regional coral reef network, including establishing a regional database on the state of coral reefs; - Enhancing or building national capacity for monitoring of coral reefs and data analysis; - A 3 year data series on the status of reefs, their tendency and their biodiversity, - Contributing actively through data transfer to the GCRMN international database (ReefBase in ICLARM); - Diffusion to international networks of information on the Indian Ocean regional network and on the Regional Coral Reef Plan