Please put your thinking caps on

[Gregor Hodgson]

Reef Check/GCRMN is an official delegate to the World Summit in
Johannesburg. Many other organizations with an interest in coral reef
conservation will be there such as WWF and IUCN. We will have a booth and
will be holding a press conference there and we would be happy to do our
best to raise the issue of reef conservation. Pls let us know how we can be
of service in this respect.

Regards,
Gregor

Gregor Hodgson, PhD
Professor (Visiting); Director, Reef Check
Institute of Environment
1362 Hershey Hall Box 951496
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1496
Tel: 310-794-4985 Fax:310-825-0758
Website: www.ReefCheck.org

     -----Original Message-----
     From: owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov
     [mailto:owner-coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov]On Behalf Of Phil Dustan
     Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 5:00 AM
     To: coral-list at aoml.noaa.gov
     Subject: Please put your thinking caps on

     Hi Coral Listers,

     I just wanted to call everyone's attention to the upcoming World
     Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg South
     Africa, August 26-Sept 4. The Chairman's text for Negotiation
     (which is the basis for further negotiations at a ministerial
     level preparatory meeting in Bali next week)
     (www.johannesburgsummit.org/index.html) contains an outline of
     issues that will be raised at the summit. The text references
     sustainable development in the seas but refers to coral reefs in
     only two places!
     It seems to me that reefs deserve more attention in the grand
     scheme of things at a world summit focusing on sustainability. The
     upcoming meetings in Mexico and Jakarta present opportunities to
     become more involved with ICRI and ICRAN to work towards getting
     reefs a bit more presence at WSSD.
     The science community has an opportunity and an obligation to join
     in the process and begin to speak with a louder voice on the
     relationship of environmental sustainability with coral reef
     health and the vitality of seas.
     Many of us have witnessed firsthand the destruction of reefs
     around the world. We know their importance to the ecological
     sustainability of the oceans. And many of us have ideas about how
     to contribute towards their conservation.
     I'd like to urge the scientific community to put some thought into
     this and offer suggestions for the WSSD Agenda that can be
     discussed at the upcoming ICRI Regional Workshops in Jakarta and
     Cancun. We might not be able to actually go to the meetings but I
     think we could use the coral-list as a forum for offering
     suggestions and making our collective voices heard.
     Further details about the Cancun meeting will be posted on the
     ICRI, UNEP-CAR/RCU and CONANP websites at www.icriforum.org,
     www.cep.unep.org and www.conanp.gob.mx.

     PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW
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     Phillip Dustan <?smaller><?/smaller>
     Department of Biology
     College of Charleston
     Charleston SC 29424
     dustanp at cofc.edu
     www.cofc.edu/~coral/corallab.htm
     (843) 953-8086
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