IUCN has launched an ambitious new initiative to assess the risk of collapse of the world’s photic coral reef ecosystems using the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) - the global standard for evaluating ecosystem health and collapse risk.

This global effort builds upon the successful Western Indian Ocean (WIO) regional assessment led by CORDIO East Africa, which revealed that coral reefs in the region face high levels of vulnerability; see Obura et al. (2022). The new initiative will expand this work to all marine ecoregions where photic coral reefs occur, providing the first truly global picture of reef ecosystem status.

 

Objectives

• The Global Red List of Coral Reefs Ecosystems assessment aims to:
• Assess all global photic coral reef ecosystems using RLE criteria
• Identify the major ecological, functional, and spatial drivers of reef ecosystem decline
• Build regional capacity through the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) nodes and local expert networks
• Produce a globally consistent dataset to inform conservation planning, climate negotiations, and biodiversity policy
• Synthesize regional assessments into a Global Coral Reef Ecosystem Red List

 

Why this project matters

Coral reefs support over 500 million people, protect coastlines, sustain fisheries, and host extraordinary biodiversity. Yet they are among the world’s fastest declining ecosystems due to climate change, overexploitation, pollution, and coastal development.

This project fills a major global data gap by:

• Reassessing all 892 reef building coral species
• Producing the first Global Red List of Coral Reef Ecosystems
• Equipping governments with updated indicators for the SDGs and Global Biodiversity Framework
• Supporting national coral conservation plans in selected countries in Western Indian Ocean: Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, and Mozambique

 

Main team and contacts

• Project manager: Marcos VALDERRABANO; IUCN - Red List of Ecosystems Team
• RLE Scientific Coordination: Dr Mishal GUDKA; University of Melbourne / CORDIO East Africa
• Technical Lead:  Franzinho SMITH; CORDIO East Africa

 

Coral Reef Regions

The project is being implemented across the following global coral reef regions

• Australia | Focal point: AIMS
• Brazil | Focal point: UFPE
• Caribbean | Focal point: Healthy Reefs
• East Asia | Focal point: GCRMN East Asia 
• Eastern Tropical Pacific | Focal point: Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research 
• Pacific | Focal point: CRIOBE
• Red Sea and Gulf of Aden | Focal point: PERSGA
• ROPME Sea Area | Focal point: New York University Abu Dhabi
• South Asia | Focal point: SACEP
• Western Indian Ocean | Focal point: CORDIO East Africa

 

Overall project timeline

2024 - 2025

Publication of global coral species Red List and initiation of national Red List of Ecosystems assessments, including engagement with regional coordinators, training kick off national processes in Comoros, Mozambique, Madagascar

2026

Regional RLE assessments completed in all 10 coral reef regions. This phase will culminate in a high-impact global launch end of 2026

2027

Peer review and finalization of the first Global Red List of Coral Reef Ecosystems. This is expected to foster uptake of national results into marine spatial planning and coral action plans.

 

Global Red List of Coral Reefs Ecosystems assessment project launch video

Check out the video here.

 

Acknowledgement

This project is generously funded by the MSC Foundation, with regional contributions from DELTA Foundation and Global Affairs Canada.

 

Links and resources

• Red List of Ecosystems code repository
• Red List of Coral Reefs assessment in WIO
• Global Ecosystem Typology
• Assessment protocol video