Do you think it is hard to educate people on how endangered the worlds reef systems really are? What are the campaigns you run to educate people about what hurts reefs?
I don't think it's hard if people are interested, read and listen. Reports on the mentioned scientific findings are disseminated in several formats, e.g. peer-reviewed scientific articles, conference proceedings, policy notes as well as newspaper articles so that they are accessible to all kinds of people including the general public. IOC-UNESCO also directly reports to the member states. In addition, IOC-UNESCO supports the publication of an extensive biannual report on “The Status of Coral Reefs of the World” produced by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), which provides important background information in a high spatial and temporal resolution for everybody interested to follow the global change of coral reefs (electronic copy available at http://ioc.unesco.org/gcrmn/publications.htm).

We have read that 85% of aquarium fish come from Southeast Asia. Does your organization have any programs that reduce the amount of aquarium trade that has a negative impact on coral reefs?
No, but there are international agreements between governments. Please have a look on http://www.cites.org.

Are there consequences for people/ organizations / nations who continue to over fish, pollute, and destroy coral reefs? If so how severe are they?
That is the responsibility of the countries, in particular the Management of Marine Park Areas, where the respective coral reefs are located in.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment in reef preservation? What projects are you working on now?
One goal of IOC is to assist the member states in their efforts to build scientific and technological capabilities. The mentioned IOC-UNESCO Working Group on Coral Bleaching was initiated with the goal to integrate, synthesize and develop global research on coral bleaching, a major problem for the health of coral reefs worldwide, and related ecological impacts of climate change on coral ecosystems, and further new research findings into development of tools and techniques for improved observations, predictions and management interventions at national and global scales.

What do you feel that is the biggest threat to reefs? What animals are the most endangered in coral reefs?
It is hard if not impossible to extract or identify one biggest threat for coral reefs in general. There is a variety of mostly locally occurring man-made stressors (e.g. eutrophication, blast and cyanide fishing, over fishing in general, intense coastal agriculture with its consequences, intense tourism activities) as well as environmental stressors related to climate change (e.g. increase in water temperatures, seawater acidification). Often, only the combination of different stressors causes a non-reversible deterioration of corals reefs.

Concerning the most endangered animals in coral reefs, it perhaps sounds trivial, but I have to mention the corals themselves. Corals are engineers of their ecosystem and build the reef structure through the precipitation of calcium carbonate. The corals together with their endosymbiotic algae, called zooxanthellae, are also mainly responsible for the high productivity of reefs, which are located in very oligotrophic waters characterized by low productivities. Despite of these powerful attributes are corals highly susceptible to environmental stressors, e.g. high water temperatures and react with death, bleaching or an enormous multiplicity of coral-specific diseases.

What is the world community doing to stop the threats? How can we do more?
There are several international as well as regional efforts of governmental (e.g. IOC-UNESCO, UNEP) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs like WWF and IUCN) focusing on the protection of warm water coral reefs and related organisms. The mentioned Worldbank/GEF Global Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building Project (see above) is only one of those. Calls for coral reef protection have been included in several global initiatives, e.g. the Convention on Biological Diversity. The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI, see more at http://www.icriforum.org) for example is the umbrella for a range of global operational networks, e.g. ICRAN (International Coral Reef Action Network) and GCRMN with Reef Check, aiming to monitor the status of coral reefs and to improve the management and protection of coral reefs.

It would certainly be helpful to
a) better combine different reef protection approaches and tools,
b) to install more marine protected areas (MPAs) including so called
    No Take Areas (NTAs),
c) to establish a network of MPAs in order to ensure connectivity,
d) to evaluate and improve the management effectiveness of these MPAs, and
e) advance international conventions on climate change

Reefs are considered rainforests of the ocean and are endangered like rainforests. Why do you think we hear so much about the threat to tropical rainforests and not as much about coral reefs?
Coral reefs are comparable with tropical rainforests, because both ecosystems are complex hotspots for biodiversity. In general, oceanic environments gain much less attention compared to terrestrial ones, which might be the main reason and is supported by the fact that e.g. the extensive distribution of cold-water coral reefs was just discovered within the last decade.

What can people who don't live near coral reefs do to get involved and help protect the world's reefs?
Everyone can contribute to coral reef protection by e.g.
a) active or/and passive support of NGOs focusing on coral reef protection
b) avoidance of cultivation and consumption of imported reef fish
c) environment-friendly behavior during stay in coastal areas with coral reefs
    (e.g. no anchoring or disposal of waste in the reef; careful swimming, scuba diving
    and snorkeling; avoidance of destructive fishing practices)
d) environment-friendly behavior in general, particularly all measures helping to
    decrease CO 2 emission, e.g. saving energy, use of public transportation,
    avoidance of car and air planes, preference of renewable energy sources

Which countries, in your opinion, do the best job of protecting reefs and stopping destructive reef fishing?
It is certainly not appropriate and also not possible to venture a ranking list between countries concerning reef protection issues, because of different economical, ecological and political situations. However, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) seem to do a pretty good and encouraging job.

How many nations have joined the International Coral Reef Initiative? Do you have any predictions for the future as far as more nations joining in?
Please see: http://www.icriforum.org/router.cfm?show=html/icrinetwork.html

Can you tell us about any success stories with the coral reefs?
It is always good to see how resilient coral reefs can be against a single stress event, e.g. the Tsunami 2004. Many corals also recovered from the 2002 extensive Coral Bleaching event in the Western Pacific (see Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2004).