Throughout the duration of the Pacific expedition, Tara will be a partner of the International Coral Reef Initiative, an opportunity to share observations and scientific objectives.
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) aims to bring together governments, scientific institutions, non-governmental and international organizations to improve good management practices and share our knowledge about the world’s coral reefs. The collaboration between the Tara Expeditions Foundation and ICRI will expand the visibility, research impact, and data from the scientific team, and bolster the awareness of elected officials and Pacific island populations.
Romain Troublé (executive director of the Tara Expeditions Foundation) explains that “the ICRI is an international network whose goal is to monitor reefs across the planet. The Tara Pacific expedition will work within this international framework. On the way to the Pacific, and during the expedition, Tara and her team will raise public awareness about the major issues affecting reefs, and encourage initiatives for sustainable management.”
“The idea is to take advantage of Tara’s stopovers in the Pacific, including French overseas territories, to implement local actions around coral reefs and promote the work produced by Tara’s teams“, says Pascal Colin, in charge of environmental issues at the Ministry of Overseas France — one of the main financial support of IFRECOR, a French version of ICRI. “We will discuss the worldwide coral bleaching phenomenon and plan to develop a charter of good practice to which local representatives of the Pacific Islands can subscribe. Today, a major focus of our work, based on scientific research from sources like Tara, is to raise the awareness of stakeholders and local decision-makers, but also of public school children and youth“.
Adapted from http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/en/m/science/news/tara-rejoint-linitiative-internationale-pour-les-recifs-coralliens/ by Victor Brancquart.
