UN Environment Programme And Partners Launch Sustainable Diving Guide To Protect Marine Assets

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UNEP Video on Sustainable Dive Tourism Featuring Renowned Cartoonist Jim Toomey also Released

Guidance material on how recreational diving can protect fragile marine biodiversity threatened by growing coastal tourism and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be launched tomorrow at Asia’s largest and oldest dive expo by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners.

The Green Fins Toolbox, developed through a public-private partnership initiative working with diving and snorkeling businesses, communities and governments in Southeast and South Asia, was unveiled during Asia Dive Expo (ADEX), held at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The growing popularity and accessibility of scuba diving and snorkeling is bringing more people onto coral reefs. The diving industry adds over one million new divers every year, putting additional pressure on fragile coastal ecologies, in particular coral reefs, which host abundant marine life and are an enormous draw for tourists.

While helping to drive economic growth, intensive scuba diving can directly damage corals, making them susceptible to other stresses as well as reduce live coral cover. Poorly managed beach and reef tourism constitutes an environmental threat and undermines the industry’s primary asset, the coral reef.