Island and Ocean Ecosystems
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), in partnership with Reef Ecologic and the University of Queensland, is facilitating participation by SPREP member countries in the International Coral Reef Management and Leadership Fellowship programme, which aims to build capacity to protect coral reefs as a foundation for sustainable development.

"Having the opportunity to be a Coral Reef Management Leadership Fellow will help broaden and grow both personal and professional development," said Mr Warren Lee Long, SPREP Coastal and Marine Adviser.

"We are extremely pleased to partner in this initiative, a world leading short course in coral reef management that will see Pacific Fellows share their experience and new understandings with peers from the Carribean, Indian Ocean and South-East Asia. The 2015 programme produced eight Pacific Island Fellows who are now applying their new knowledge and skills to their work."

snorkel surveySurveying coral reefs. Photo: A.Smith/Reef Ecologic

The 2016 Coral Reef Management and Leadership training course, organised by Reef Ecologic, is being held in Townsville and on the Great Barrier Reef, in northern Queensland, from 9th – 29th October 2016.

Northern Queensland is an international centre for tropical marine science, management and leadership.

The Fellows will learn from global experts on environment communications, management and leadership, and share knowledge with leading managers and scientists from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Reef HQ, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, James Cook University, the University of Queensland, Reef Ecologic, join industry trips to the Great Barrier Reef, conduct site visits with leading innovators in reef-based industries, and participate in several practical management and networking sessions.

The program includes two courses – one on high level leadership for marine resource managers, and one on excellence in reef management, with participants from each course coming together during a one week- overlap period. Fellows receive a suite of practical knowledge, ideas, on-site applications of best practice principles, one-on-one with experts, practical exercises and other activities to maximise applications of this new knowledge in their own home countries.