Region

Pacific

Countries & territories included

American Samoa (USA), Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (USA), Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia (France), Main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (USA), Kingdom of Tonga, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia (France), Niue, Republic of Palau, Pitcairn (UK), Pacific Remote Island Area (USA), Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau (NZ), Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis & Futuna (France).

Contact

Serge Planes
CRIOBE – USR 3278 CNRS – EPHE – UPVD, Papetoai, Moorea, French Polynesia
planes@univ-perp.fr 

Nicolas Rocle
Secretariat of the Pacific Environmental Programme
nicolasr.ext@sprep.org

Regional Context

Countries & territories included

Pacific islands and archipelagos include sovereign states as well as associated states or territories of continental countries.

Importance of coral reefs

The Pacific region is the second largest GCRMN region in terms of coral reef extent and is unique in that the coral reefs occur mainly around oceanic islands. It includes around 3,000 islands and supports almost 27% (about 65,255 km2) of the total global area of coral reefs. Spread across such a large area, these reefs vary considerably in terms of proximity to continents, reef structure, and biodiversity, as well as the frequency and intensity of natural disturbances. Coral reefs are an integral part of Pacific culture and provide a significant amount of dietary protein (25-100%).

Governance

For the Pacific region, the data integration process is ensured by Jérémy Wicquart. During the production of a report, the analyses and drafts produced by the editors are submitted to a review by the data owners supervised by the node manager (Serge Planes).

Keys numbers

69,424

Total area of coral reefs (km2)

26.73%

Proportion of the world’s coral reefs

17

Countries with coral reefs

24

Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW) (i)

(i) Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW) is a biogeographic classification of the world’s coasts and shelves (Spalding et al., 2007).

Key figures from the 2020 report

Hard coral cover

Algae cover

Read the report

Activities​

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Francesco Ungaro | Unsplash
Francesco Ungaro | Unsplash

Resources

Regional reports and guidelines from the Pacific region:

In November 2023, the Pacific Regional Node hosted a regional workshop for the preparation of the “Status and Trends of Coral Reefs in the Pacific: 2024” regional report. A summary of the workshop can be found here. As part of the workshop, two summary videos were produced, and the short version can be viewed below (the long version can be viewed here): 

More resources
  • Last Updated | 27 June 2022

An operational network of:

The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is a proactive partnership between Nations and organisations which strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world. GCRMN is an operational network of ICRI, acting as one of its implementing arms. 

An operational network of:

The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is a proactive partnership between Nations and organisations which strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world. GCRMN is an operational network of ICRI, acting as one of its implementing arms. 

Funded with support from:

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