INTRODUCTION
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The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) is a US-based nonprofit environmental science organization that was established in 2000 by His Royal Highness Prince Khaled bin Sultan Abdulaziz Al-Saud. As an avid scuba diver, Prince Khaled witnessed the rapid decline of the world’s coral reefs during his travels throughout his lifetime. After investigating the reasons the reefs were declining, he chose to act. He was inspired to establish an organization dedicated to understanding, conserving, and preserving our precious oceans for generations to come. Prince Khaled, with support from his closest advisors, chose to use a three-pronged approach to undertake this mission to protect the world’s oceans by establishing three departments of the foundation: Science, Education, and Outreach. Together, these departments work synergistically to educate and share science-based solutions to protect and restore the oceans’ ecosystems, particularly coral reefs. Because coral reefs are found in countries and territories across the globe, Prince Khaled established the Science Without Borders® philosophy, which became core to the foundation’s
Figure 1
operation. Subsequently, KSLOF formed partnerships with scientists, conservation organizations, and local leaders to leverage the resources, commitment, and ideas necessary to make substantial progress in ocean conservation. Through these partnerships, the foundation recognized a gap in the understanding of coral reefs on a global scale. Therefore, KSLOF launched numerous expeditions starting in 2001 to assess the state of the reefs in 24 countries and territories across the tropical oceans (Figure 1). These research missions intensified in 2006, leading to the Global Reef Expedition (GRE), the world’s largest coral reef survey and high-resolution habitat mapping initiative. Embracing the three-pronged approach, the foundation enabled a broad team of educators, filmmakers, photographers, and scientists to work in some of the most remote locations in the world. One of the main goals of the GRE was to use a collaborative approach to study and map coral reefs by partnering with scientific and local experts in each of the countries visited. To do this, Prince Khaled retrofitted and graciously donated the use of his ship, the M/Y Golden Shadow, to support the
LOCATION OF ALL SITES VISITED ON THE GLOBAL REEF EXPEDITION FROM 2001-2021 . THIS EXPEDITION CIRCUMNAVIGATED THE GLOBE TO M
IN THIS REPORT IS FROM THE INTENSIVE FIELD WORK THAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN 2006 AND 2015 [MARKED BY CORAL-COLORED DOTS] IN: T
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS (2012), FRENCH POLYNESIA (2012-2013), COOK ISLANDS (2013), FIJI (2013), TONGA (2013), NEW CALEDONIA (2013), AUST
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COUNTRIES SURVEYED ON THE GLOBAL REEF EXPE
