With the diverse assortment of plants, colors, brightly scaled fishes and many other sea creatures dancing around coral reefs - as if to the beat of a calypso song, it is little wonder that this has become a significant part of our natural tourism product.

Clarence Pilgrim

But this “post card” perfect site has been under siege for a number of years from man-made threats to natural disasters. One of the United Nations millennium goals is to Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; [to] reverse loss of environmental resources.

This is an ideal, which must become a reality if we are to consider the protection of the Caribbean environment as serious business.

But how are our beautiful coral reefs formed? Depending on the size of the structure, hundreds or hundreds of thousands of hard working animals called polyps are the responsible construction workers. All corals are colonial organisms. This means that they live together in a community. Coral reefs will form when free-swimming coral larvae attach to submerged rocks or other hard surfaces along the edges of islands or land mass.

As the corals grow and expand, reefs take on one of three major characteristic structures —fringing, barrier or atoll. Reefs form when polyps secrete skeletons of (a substance called) calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Entire colonies may grow large and weigh many tons. With an increase in size and structure they become a habitat for hundreds to thousands of different vertebrate and invertebrate species of living organisms.

Corals can reproduce alone (asexually) and with another coral (sexually). Each polyp has a stomach that opens at only one end. This opening, called the mouth, is surrounded by a circle of tentacles. The polyp uses these tentacles for defense, to capture small animals for food, and to clear away debris.

Food enters the stomach through the mouth. After the food is consumed, waste products are expelled through the same opening. Most corals feed at night. A coral's food ranges in size from very small animals called zooplankton to small fish, depending on the size of the coral polyps. In addition, many corals also collect fine organic particles which they then draw into their mouths.

Caribbean coral reefs are diverse and valuable ecosystems which cannot be underestimated or ignored. Our coral reefs support many species per unit area including many species of fish including snapper, grouper, hind and many others.

There is also a variety of species of corals such as rose coral, fungus coral, brain coral, finger coral and others. Scientists estimate that there may be millions of undiscovered species of organisms living in and around reefs.

This biodiversity may be a key element to finding new medicines for us in the 21st century. It is believed that many drugs can be developed from coral reef animals and plants as possible cures for cancer, arthritis and other diseases.

Coral reefs can provide goods and services worth many millions of dollars each year to Caribbean countries. Many households can reap it’s benefits. It is amazing that such a vast resource is not properly exploited or cared for, in the interest of our citizens.

From Antigua to Belize to Jamaica, healthy reefs contribute to local economies and national development through tourism. Business generation through hotels, fishing trips, diving tours, restaurants, and other businesses provides many jobs and services throughout the Caribbean.

Many jobs in the Caribbean depends on the total fish catch, which provides a critical food source for tens of thousands of people.

With the many storms which have been battering the Caribbean, coral reefs have served to buffer adjacent shorelines from wave action and prevent erosion. Reefs also protect the wetlands along the coast, especially in the eastern Caribbean states.

A significant threat to reefs is pollution due to dredging, coastal development, agricultural activities, sewage treatment operations etc. This runoff may contain sediments, nutrients, chemicals, insecticides, oil, and debris etc. Some pollutants entering the water increases nutrient levels, thus promoting the rapid growth of algae and other organisms that can retard or smother the growth of corals.

In addition to compromising water quality, oil pollution ( no matter how expensive the cost of oil is these days) can disrupt the reproductive success of corals. Careless or untrained divers can trample fragile corals, and many fishing techniques can be destructive.

Fishing trawlers, external to the Caribbean ( and unfortunately some local) may employ fishing techniques which involves dragging a fishing net along the sea bottom. Sadly, when our fishermen encounter garbage from their fishing nets, they leave debris in the sea, and this can be very problematic in areas of wave disturbance.

In shallow water, live corals become entangled in these nets and are torn away from their bases. Also, without due attention anchors from boats can be dropped onto reefs and can disrupt or destroy coral colonies. Powerful waves from hurricanes can break apart corals, thus scattering their fragments.

Although an entire colony may not be killed by storms, slow-growing corals may be smothered by faster reproducing algae before they can recover. The health threats associated with corals has been identified as the following diseases: white band disease (WBD), black band disease (BBD), bacterial infection, and shut down reaction. In addition corals are susceptible to tumors and parasitic worms.

With all of these natural and man-made challenges to our resilient but worried polyps, there is a need for immediate action to help them. The Caribbean Community must take the immediate steps to protect the underwater environment by doing the following:

• Apply the Millennium commitments from the global to the regional and local level.
• Build alliances across and within countries, working with national governments, civil society, the private sector, international financial institutions and other development partners
• Re-energize a broad political constituency to accelerate progress towards the goals.
• Generate public awareness and debate for action
• Create the necessary laws, agencies and implementation tools to facilitate target setting and national priority goals

Only through the demonstration of our united will to effect changes can we truly make a difference and show that we want to protect and develop the environment in a responsible way.