Coral-ations 0

  • 98,572 -- square miles of coral reef in the world 1
  • 97,100 -- square miles of the state of Wyoming 2
  • 58 -- percentage of the world's reefs that are potentially threatened by human activities 1
  • 34 -- percentage of the world's reefs that are off the shores of Southeast Asia 3
  • 88 -- percentage of those reefs that are threatened 3
  • 8 -- percentage of those reefs that are protected 3
  • 19,643 -- square miles of coral reef in Indonesia 3
  • 4,668,487 -- number of people in Indonesia deriving their livelihood from fishing in 1996 4
  • 86 -- percentage of Indonesia's coral reef at medium or higher risk 3
  • 6 -- number of countries containing more than half the world's reefs (Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, the Maldives, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines) 1
  • 90 -- percentage of people living within 100 miles of the coast in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines (world centers of coral diversity) 4
  • 23,100-270,000 -- estimated value, in dollars, of one square kilometer of healthy coral reefs in area with tourism potential 3
  • 20,000-151,000 -- estimated value, in dollars, of one square kilometer of healthy coral reef in areas without tourism potential 3
  • 832,445 -- number of pieces of coral exported from Southeast Asia in 1997 4
  • 819,118 -- number of pieces of coral imported into North America in 1997 4

Sources:
1. Bryant, Dirk, et. al. Reefs at Risk: A Map-based Indicator of Threats to the World's Coral Reefs.
2. U.S. Census Bureau. State & County QuickFacts.
3. Burke, Lauretta, Elizabeth Selig and Mark Spalding. Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia, February 2002.
4. EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal.

 

Learn more about the world's coral reefs.

 

Christian Layke of the World Resources Institute is the gatekeeper of EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal. He has conducted research in forest ecology in New York State, New Hampshire, and the Dominican Republic.

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