Reefs at Risk
Raising awareness of threats to coral reefs and providing information and tools to manage coastal habitats more effectively.
The Reefs at Risk project assesses the status of and threats to the world’s coral reefs from a wide range of human activities including coastal development, overfishing, and pollution.
WRI's Reefs at Risk project has produced a series of global and regional map-based reports starting in 1998 with Reefs at Risk: A Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs.
The most recent global report, Reefs at Risk Revisited (2011), is a high-resolution update of the 1998 global report and includes a first-ever analysis of climate-related threats to coral reefs as well as an assessment of the social vulnerability of nations and territories to reef degradation and loss. Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle (2012) is based on this global report while focusing more specifically on the countries of the Coral Triangle—Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.
Other regional and local analyses include Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean (2004); Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia (2002); Reefs at Risk: Sabah, Malaysia (2003); and Belize Coastal Threat Analysis (2005).
Coral Reefs of the World Classified by Threat from Local Activities
Coral reefs are classified by estimated present threat from local human activities, according to the Reefs at Risk Revisited integrated local threat index. The index combines the threat from the following activities: overfishing and destructive fishing, coastal development, watershed-based pollution, and marine-based pollution and damage.
Launch the interactive map full-page.
GIS Data Sets
Base Data:Data and GIS Base Data: Meta Data
Global Threats:Data and GIS Global Data: Meta Data
Local Threats:Data and GIS Local Threats Data: Meta Data
Local Threats (Vector Only):Data and GIS Local Threats (Vector Only) Data: Meta Data
KML Data Sets
Use these files in Google Earth and other map applications that support KML.
Local & Global Threats in 2050 (3.1 Mb)
Local & Global Threats in 2030 (3.1 Mb)
Local Threats: Present (3.1 Mb)
Base data source: Reef locations are based on 500-meter resolution gridded data reflecting shallow, tropical coral reefs of the world. Organizations contributing to the data and development of the coral reef data include the Institute for Marine Remote Sensing, University of South Florida (IMaRS/USF), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD/UR), UNEP-WCMC, The World Fish Center and WRI. The composite data set was compiled from multiple sources, incorporating products from the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project prepared by IMaRS/USF and IRD.