Saturday 24 October 2009 is Global Day for Climate Action and the Save our Seas Shark Centre are joining hands with Consider Us, a UNEP initiative, to help promote the global call for action demonstrated by children worldwide. From 2pm to 5pm on Camps Bay Beach we will be encouraging 350 young South African’s, who will be attending the Camps Bay United Churches annual Springtide Youth Festival, to form a human 350 and a Consider Us emblem, which will be photographed from a helicopter. We will not be alone in our efforts to raise awareness since over four thousand connected events in more than 170 countries around the world are also planned. (more…)
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Coral reefs are stunningly beautiful, harbour untold biodiversity and are a vital component of the balanced functionality of marine ecosystems. They’re also worth rather a lot of money.
Recent economic research shows that each year the services to humans provided by coral reefs are worth on average $130,000 per hectare, and up to a staggering $1.2 million per hectare. The value of services provided by coral reefs can be broken down as follows:
- Food, raw materials, ornamental resources: average $1,100 (up to $6,000)
- Climate regulation, moderation of extreme events, waste treatment/water purification, biological control: average $26,000 (up to $35,000)
- Cultural services, eg. recreation/tourism: average $88,700 (up to $1.1 million)
- Maintenance of genetic diversity: average $13,500 (up to $57,000)
Coral reef in the Red Sea. Photo by Geoffroy Flamment
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