In 2006, five nations in Micronesia initiated the Micronesia Challenge in order to preserve 30% of their marine resources and 20% of their terrestrial resources. They began this program because they were concerned with the climate change, land pollution, and unsuitable harvest for fisheries. Since coral reefs, fishes, and marine ecosystems are very difficult to study, scientists have developed a new way to track and observe marine life. This new program allows scientists to evaluate the health of 78 corral reefs across 8 islands of Micronesia. The results of the project were somewhat disappointing because the scientists concluded that less than half of the corral reefs had exceeded the threshold of the Micronesia challenge. The scientists concluded that they needed to decide whether the problem comes from the natural environment or human stressors. Moreover, the results showed that islands with low populations had healthy corral reefs and islands with large populations had bad conditions for the corral reefs due too high demand for food. Finally, scientists have pinpointed the corral reefs that are in bad shape and are working to asses the problem.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150924104114.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150924104114.htm