The Reef-World team was recently asked to summarise why we care about coral reefs to support ICRI ’s recommendation that coral reefs must be prioritised in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
Here is my answer:
“Visiting coral reefs is to visit life: to see the building blocks of the ocean. As a freediver, I love the diversity of colours and structures of coral reefs – a sanctuary for abundant and unique marine life – but also because corals exist in a place free from distractions that we can only visit fleetingly and in the moment. I love the simplicity of taking a single breath and spending a few minutes in a world that is so different and yet so intrinsically linked to our own.”
James Greenhalgh