International Year of the Reef 2008


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Educational Materials

This page compiles materials related to Coral Reef Education. The list will be regularly updated, however, you are encouraged to suggest new additions by emailing info@iyor.org.

Quick links

IYORcreative.com - NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have worked together to develop a united U.S. IYOR Messaging Campaign with the input from the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Education and Outreach Working Group. This group comprising more than 150 people from federal and state government, academia, NGOs, stakeholder groups, etc have been worked together since July 2007 to develop components for this campaign including: an Umbrella Theme, a Tag Line, and 5 Action Messages. To date with the help of a third party contractor, SQN Communications Design, Inc., 3 of the 5 action messages have been developed into FREELY downloadable print advertisements (available in 3 sizes) on www.IYORcreative.com. These ads and other similarly branded products are available to all groups planning their IYOR campaigns - the more coral conservation groups who use these ads, the more impact we can expect to have.

Project AWARE Ten Ways A Diver Can Protect the Underwater Environment – Highlights responsible diving practices and show divers what actions they can take to protect our oceans. The environmental dive tips are available in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Spanish (www.projectaware.org/asiapac/english/educations ).

Project AWARE Ten Tips for Underwater Photography - Before your next underwater photo safari, get familiar with Project AWARE’s 10 Tips for Underwater Photographers and inspire your customers, students and dive buddies to do the same. You can help protect your favourite dive site and perfect your techniques at the same time. Available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese and Korean (www.projectaware.org/asiapac/english/educations ). Also available in Arabic, on the IYOR Egypt page

CORAL Guidelines for Tourists - These guidelines provide essential advice to improve your coral reef expertise and give you general guidance on activities around coral reefs. http://www.coralreefalliance.org (available in English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Indonesian, Chinese, and Japanese)

CORAL Issue Briefs provide an overview of each ecological and economic impact, as well as policy options for global, national and local action to help protect this important resource. Example of issues: Coral Reefs and Global Climate Change, Watersheds and Healthy Reefs, Exploitive Fishing.
http://www.coralreefalliance.org/resources/briefs ( available in English and Spanish)

The United Nations Environment Programme has prepared five communication tools that can be used to educate tourists about the importance of protecting coral reefs during their holidays. The tools are available free of charge on CD ROM and can be used to print attractive and informative materials. They are intended primarily for tourists but can also be used for tourism industry employees and local residents. more information.
http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/sensitive/communicationtool-kit.htm ( available in English, Spanish, Italian, German, and French)

Ocean Futures Society Treasure On The Reef, a cartoon book for kids!: http://www.oceanfutures.org/images/treasureonthereef_sample.pdf

The Catchment To Reef initiative has produced two booklets in full-colour which can be downloaded at http://www.catchmenttoreef.com.au/Products.html. The first "Are you connected: A guide to the processes linking Land, Sea and Reef looks at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef", with relatively simple text (secondary school level and above) and excellent illustrations, is 8-page booklet gets over the key message that what we do in our catchment area affects the health of the reef. The last page helpfully provides on-line sources of additional information.

The second booklet "Nutrients, Catchments & Reefs: A guide to nutrients in your landscape", again focuses on the Great Barrier Reef and looks particularly at the natural flow of nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, and the impact on nutrient loads on the reef of the one million people who live in the catchment, their one million cars, 5 million cattle, and their 4,000 km2 of sugar cane plantations and 7,000 km2 of other crops!

10 Questions / 10 Answers about Coral Reef

Online Resources

Learn and Play

  • Reef Education Network (REN) - The REN will help you to unlock some of the misteries of the watery wonderlands we know as reefs - www.reef.edu.au/default.htm
  • Coral Reef Adventure Fun Zone - Another great website for kids. lots of game to learn and play at the same time - http://coralfilm.com/fun.html

Online Photo / Movie library

  • The Marine Photobank is a leading visual resource that has galvanized people from all over the planet to collect, share and download marine photos, images and graphics that shed light on how humans have affected life in the ocean. Images are available at no cost for non-commercial purposes as well as for media use. http://www.marinephotobank.org
  • The Coral Reef Photobank helps educate the public about coral reefs and their amazing inhabitants, and raises awareness of the need for coral reef conservation. These images can be downloaded on a royalty-free basis at no cost for non-commercial use. http://www.coralreefalliance.org
  • Reefbase Photo Gallery. http://www.reefbase.org/resource_center/photos.aspx
  • The NOAA Photo Library has been built so as to capture the work, observations, and studies that are carried on by the scientists, engineers, commissioned officers, and administrative personnel that make up this complex and scientifically diverse agency. It also has been built in an attempt to capture NOAA's scientific heritage, which is in fact a heritage shared by much of the physical and environmental science communities in the United States today. To date, over 16,000 images have been digitized and reside in the online NOAA Photo Library. http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/reef
  • The Great Barrier Reef Image Collection is a vast pictorial resource, available to the staff of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, as well as outside agencies. The collection comprises over 50,000 original colour 35 mm transparencies, together with several thousand black and white and colour images. http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au
  • The Coral Reef Multimedia Project is an interdisciplinary effort to illustrate and explain coral reef dynamics and threats. The goal is to make this knowledge accessible by combining the visual arts with a scientific background. The project is divided into two categories, Short Movies and Mini-Documentaries. Short Movies explain a concise subject with documented footage while Mini-Documentaries explore a broader biological theme with cinematography, photography, and visual effects. www.coralreefmultimedia.org
  • ReefVid: a resource of free coral reef video clips for educational use. http://reefvid.org/