THE REEF-WORLD FOUNDATION NEEDS YOUR HELP

THE REEF-WORLD FOUNDATION NEEDS YOUR HELP

Just a few minutes of your time can help improve education and awareness of coral reef conservation! 

The Reef-World Foundation – the international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme's Green Fins initiative – is asking divers around the world to spare a few minutes of their time to help improve education and awareness around protecting coral reefs. All they need to do is fill out this short survey about their media habits and views on learning more about the environment and sustainable diving practices. 

Reef-World is working to make sustainable diving the social norm through Green Fins; an initiative it runs in partnership with UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and 11 National Governments to help dive and snorkel operators become more sustainable; as well as educating tourists about best environmental practice. The initiative also provides the only internationally recognised environmental standards for snorkelling and scuba diving and enables policy makers to identify areas of high environmental risk within the industry. This means they can work with business owners to find a suitable solution to local threats. 

As part of its Green Fins initiative, Reef-World provides a suite of tools and materials to help educate dive operators, dive professionals and divers about how they can be more environmentally friendly when diving. This toolbox of materials has been developed based upon requests or suggestions from the diving industry and is always being updated to ensure it conveys the Green Fins message as effectively as possible. Reef-World is committed to creating the materials that will be most useful for the diving industry and, for that reason, is calling for input from divers as part of its latest review. 

JJ Harvey, Director at The Reef-World Foundation, said: “The ethos at Reef-World – and of the Green Fins initiative – is to empower and educate the dive industry to protect coral reefs. We’re continually reviewing our materials to make sure they’re as useful and effective as possible for Green Fins members (and non-members!) who can download and use them for free. We’re now in the process of planning our next updates and we want to be sure our priorities fit with those of the wider Green Fins network by hearing from you: the dive industry. This activity was already in the pipeline for the Reef-World team and, while we realise this is a challenging time for many of our network, we hope those staying at home will be able to spare a few minutes to help. Completing the short survey will make a huge difference in our work to improve communications about sustainable diving and the protection of coral reefs. To everyone who is able to spare the time to help us, thank you.”

The survey can be taken online here: https://form.jotform.com/Reef_World/materials

For more information about Reef-World’s Green Fins initiative, please visit www.reef-world.org or www.greenfins.net. Dive and snorkel operators interested in signing up to Green Fins can find the membership application form at: https://www.greenfins.net/how-to-join.

About Reef-World

The Reef-World Foundation is a registered UK charity which delivers practical solutions for marine conservation around the world. The charity promotes the wise use of natural resources - particularly coral reefs and related ecosystems - for the benefit of local communities, visitors and future generations. It is dedicated to supporting, inspiring and empowering governments, businesses, communities and individuals around the world to act in conserving and sustainably developing coastal resources.

Reef-World leads the global implementation of the UN Environment’s Green Fins initiative, which focuses on driving environmentally friendly scuba diving and snorkelling practices across the industry globally. As such, the charity provides low cost and practical solutions to local and industry-wide environmental challenges associated with the marine tourism industry. It provides education and capacity building assistance to empower environmental champions (within the diving industry, local communities, authorities and governments) to implement proven coastal resource management approaches. 

Please visit www.reef-world.org to learn more or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About Green Fins

Green Fins is a proven conservation management approach – spearheaded by The Reef-World Foundation in partnership with the UN Environment – which leads to a measurable reduction in the negative environmental impacts associated with the marine tourism industry. The initiative aims to protect and conserve coral reefs through environmentally friendly guidelines that promote a sustainable diving and snorkelling tourism industry. It provides the only internationally recognised environmental standards for the diving and snorkelling industry and has a robust assessment system to measure compliance.

Green Fins encourages and empowers members of the diving industry to act to reduce the pressures on coral reefs by offering dive and snorkel companies practical, low-cost alternatives to harmful practices - such as anchoring, fish feeding and chemical pollution – as well as providing strategic training, support and resources. By reducing the local direct and indirect pressures tourism puts on coral reefs, it helps make corals healthier and more resilient to other stresses such as the effects of climate change. Look for the Green Fins logo when booking your next dive trip.

Please visit https://www.greenfins.net/ to learn more or follow the initiative on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter