Supernumerary Fellow receives the IUCN Coral Specialist Group Grand Prize Award

IETI President and Wolfson Supernumerary Fellow Prof. Dr. M. James C. Crabbe is working with the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) on Red Listing coral reef species, and he has just won the IUCN Coral Specialist Group Grand Prize Award.

This was for his work on compiling the most data on individual coral species from the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific, in order to determine whether they are in danger of extinction.  

The last study of the taxonomic group of coral species- about 800 species globally- was done in 2008, and showed a major increase in extinction threats. Prof. Crabbe is involved in the current major project, to look at extinction threats of all the coral species. It is organised by the Coral Specialist Group of the IUCN, headed by Dr. David Obura in Kenya with the organisational hub at Arizona State University, USA. There are about 100 people involved in the project, from the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific, and he was judged to have made the major contribution to species analysis.

"It means a great deal to me." said Prof. Crabbe "As getting a handle on how individual species are surviving- or not- in threatened ecosystems tells us a lot about how humans are behaving in relation to the natural world. How good our 'eco-civilisation' is, if you like." 

He hopes the results of this major project will be produced in a report later this year, to inform the public, policy-makers and governments about the dire straits of coral reef species.