If our goal is to kill coral reefs worldwide, we're doing a bang-up job. We've got runoff and development from the shore, fishing dredges by sea, acidification from warmer water temperatures, poisons, dynamite and spilled oil. Take that, coral! Now an international coalition of coral experts is fighting back, and they're armed with Google Earth.
Way back in the waning dial-up days of 1998, the DC-based environmental think tank the World Resources Institute undertook a sweeping study of coral reefs across the planet. Coral isn't just pretty -- it's housing for marine life, a vital source of tourism revenue, and its vitality ensures employment for communities across the globe. Working with the UN and several other organizations, the original Reefs at Risk study found that human activity was putting nearly 60 percent of all reefs at risk. The worst "resemble graveyards, algae-covered and depleted of fish."
Flash forward 10 years to 2008, when WRI decided to revisit the study using advanced technology. The interactive Reefs at Risk Revisited project will boast high-resolution data, graphics, maps, detailed global data sets and case studies. Project lead Laurette Burke recently told CNN that the new maps will be 64 times as detailed as the original study. The project, several years in the making, is now nearing completion.
Using Google Earth, WRI and its 27 influential partners can share detailed reef data on a Google Earth geographic information system. One of those partners is the ingenious Reef Check, an international nonprofit organization headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., that trains volunteers in scientific survey methods so they can accurately report on how coral reefs are faring. Partners digitize their findings onscreen and send them to WRI.
The project will benefit from having extensive survey data, such as the areas where fishermen use dynamite or poison to make their catches easier to haul in, places where acidification is occurring and communities where livelihoods are at risk from threats to coral. Each type of threat is coded: blue for low, orange for medium and red for high. That way risks can be indexed and grouped by country or region. WRI says that the final report, analysis, and public Google Earth-based system should be completed in September.
WRI's video shows how this collaboration works:
I've seen some well-meaning environmental organizations struggle because they toiled away without forming strategic partnerships that could boost their reach. The Reefs at Risk Revisited project boasts a strong group of orgs that have shared goals and a powerful technical backbone in Google Earth. Through their diver's-eye world map, the most serious threats to coral can be modeled and identified quickly so those areas can be targeted for protection. And maybe it will be possible to start bringing marine graveyards back to life.
Image: Screenshot from the Reefs at Risk Revisited project in partnership with Google Earth. Credit: World Resources Institute.
Tags: Conservation, Graphics and Video Software, Green Tech, Internet, Water
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