Project title: CLEAN REEFS: a dynamic pollution mapping and risk assessment tool for global coral reefs
Project lead: Amelia Wenger
Nations involved: Australia, USA, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Bahamas
Supporting institutions: University of Queensland, Wildlife Conservation Society, CoralVita
Total budget: $1,122,546
Duration: 36 months
Almost 1 billion people live within 100 km of a coral reef. Water pollution from land-based activities is now a significant local threat for over 30% of coral reefs worldwide. To protect and restore coral reefs, it is essential to both prevent (or at least reduce) the land-based pollution that reaches them. Currently there are no tools to identify 1) where pollution ends up, 2) the reefs at most at risk from pollution, 3) which watersheds transport the major pollutants, or 4) how reductions in pollution from management affect the risks faced by corals. The product being developed by this international, interdisciplinary team will be an open-access, near real-time, pollution mapping and risk assessment tool with an easy-to-use interface, which will provide decision-makers, organisations, coral reef scientists, and community scientists from 100+ coral reef countries with key data and information needed to implement pollution management programs that will have the greatest benefit to vulnerable coral reefs.
