Coral reef ecosystems are some of the oldest and richest biological communities on the planet, with important stores of biological diversity, significant roles in biogeochemical cycles and coastal protection, and important economic resource base for subsistence fisheries, tourism and resource extraction. They are also proving to be important indicators of environmental stress and global change, and a flagship ecosystem for integrated coastal management.

Globally, coral reef bleaching is signalling global warming and climate change, and the rapid decline in reefs threatens important biological diversity. Coral reefs may be the ecosystem equivalent of the canary in the coal mine, giving early warning that human impacts are now a significant threat at the level of whole ecosystems. Regionally, coral reefs are important indicators of the health of regional seas areas, integrating the cumulative impacts of different regional pressures, and recording the consequences of land-based sources of pollution. Nationally, coral reefs are important economic resources to be managed sustainably rather than degraded for short-term profits. Locally, many coastal inhabitants depend on reef resources, and they are the first to suffer the consequences of reef degradation.

It is thus natural that UNEP take the lead in the UN system to respond to the recent alarming decline in coral reefs around the world. Through its Coral Reef Unit, it is mobilizing an international response in partnership with other concerned governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. UNEP insists that efforts at the global and regional levels must result in practical benefits in the field on specific coral reefs and for the well being of local communities and economies.
UNEP also actively participates in the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), an innovative and dynamic global partnership of many of the world's leading coral reef science and conservation organizations, including UNEP. ICRAN acts at the global, regional and local level to halt and reverse the decline in health of the world's coral reefs. UNEP's Regional Seas Programme is coordinating ICRAN activities at the regional level, working in partnership with governments, local reef managers, coastal communities and NGOs in promoting successful management practices of coral reefs through the ICRAN demonstration sites, and building the capacity for coral reef management.

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