Corals reefs and associated ecosystems, such as mangroves and seagrasses, are among the most ecologically productive and economically valuable habitats on Earth. Yet corals face many threats including rising sea temperatures, pollution, and destructive fishing practices. In response to these threats the International Coral Reef Initiative declared 2018 as the third International Year of the Reef, aiming to increase awareness and understanding of the value of - and threats facing - coral reefs globally, and to support conservation research and management.

To help decision-makers understand how best to take action, UNEP-WCMC is launchingOcean+ Habitats, designed to provide habitat data and information for governments, non-governmental organisations, and businesses.

Launched at the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, Ocean+ Habitats is the latest product released under the Ocean+ initiative, building on ten years’ worth of collaborations with partners to improve access to marine biodiversity data and information.

While habitat datasets - some of which are hosted on UNEP-WCMC’s Ocean Data Viewer - give the impression of being complete, it is difficult to produce a complete picture of the location and status of habitats globally at any one point in time.

Ocean+ Habitats aims to address this need through partnerships, collaborating with governments, initiatives and networks to produce information required to determine how best to sustainably use and conserve the ocean. For instance, knowledge from platforms such as Panorama, the Coral Reef Funding Landscape and Marine Protected Planet can be connected to showcase habitat trends, quantify investments in conserving and restoring these habitats, and demonstrate benefits for communities.

Lauren Weatherdon, Senior Programme Officer at UNEP-WCMC, commented: “Through Ocean+ Habitats, we are aiming to understand decision-makers’ needs, strengthen capacity, and create national inventories of habitat data to support decisions at all scales. We also hope to streamline national reporting for international agreements and targets, similar to the approach taken through the World Database on Protected Areas, making reporting much easier for countries.

“We welcome partnerships to pilot this approach for a selection of countries and Regional Seas in 2019. If of interest, please contact me by email.”

Join the UNEP-WCMC’s co-hosted side event on the importance of coral reefs (13:15, Sunday, 25th November).