This global campaign is an effort by an informal coalition of governments, NGOs, business associations, and scientists to highlight the importance of reefs to sustainable development and to spur conservation efforts worldwide to reverse the trend of coral reef destruction. Millions of people in the tropics depend on coral reef ecosystems for their food, for their livelihoods, and for the protection of the coastlines they inhabit.
Human activities are the major cause of current reef decline.
Unfortunately, this decline in the health of the coral reefs also results in a direct decline in the varied biota which inhabit them. Coral reef fishes are one of the most conspicuous groups of animals inhabiting the reefs but sadly, they are also under enormous pressure in many parts of their range due to a variety of reasons such as habitat destruction and alterations, including dynamiting of reefs, siltation, pollution, coastal development, et cetera, and over-exploitation for food or other kinds of trade. Callum Roberts and Julie Hawkins have gathered distributional data on nearly 2,000 coral reef fishes. GIS analyses of the data using Ocean Voice International's global equal-area grid show locations of hotspots of total numbers of species and of endemics. This information provides assistance in choosing potential marine protected areas.