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Counter Culture

Coral-ations

By Christian Layke
18 Jun 2002
Read more about: marine life | oceans | all of these topics
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To learn more about the world's coral reefs, click here.

  • 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.

Read more about: marine life | oceans | all of these topics
Tools: print | email | discuss | write to the editor | subscribe | RSS
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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