The ZooX Fund is named after zooxanthellae, the delicate golden brown organisms that live inside coral, giving it both life and colour.
When reef waters warm, zooxanthellae are expelled or digested by the coral, leaving the coral a white or "bleached" skeleton.
Unless zooxanthellae return, and they only return under optimal conditions, corals will never recover.
View clip on Great Barrier Reef (63MG)
Courtesy of ZooX Fund
What is the ZooX Fund?
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has established a number of initiatives that are already private investment in research into how we will meet the challenge of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.
The most important of these in the ZooX Fund. Launched in February 2007, the ZooX Fund has provided a 'way in' for everyone - philanthropists, Foundations, companies and their staff and customers, and the general public - to address their concerns about the climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.
At first instance, the ZooX Fund is supporting the Risk, Resilience and Responce Atlas - a comprehensive 'mapping' of the levels of risk and resilience within the Great Barrier Reef coral network, that not only focuses on the effects of climate change, but also on other risks to the Reef, such as declining water quality in costal areas.
Just as the Reef is a multi-layered ecosystem, the Risk, Resilience and Response Atlas will provide multi-layered snapshots of the Reef in map form. Researchers and the Great Barrier Reef's managers will use these maps to isolate and compare a range of key indicators for resilience, such as sea surface temperature and water clarity.
In this way, the Risk, Resilience and Response Atlas will underpin the response plan that will be needed to prioritise those corals and reefs which are most valuable, those which are most resilient, and those which have the best chance of survival in a warming world. Such a plan will enable the managers of the Reef to target their resources where they will be of most value, and ensure that other man-made stresses on the Reef are minimised.
How can you get involved with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation?
"The world is watching. The time to act is now."
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is Australia's only dedicated fundraiser for coral reef research. Established in 1999, the Foundation is finding and funding solutions to sustain the Reef. Through its Board and International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) and a portfolio of Projection Partnerships, the Foundation directly links Reef science with business, government and philanthropy.
Climate change is a concern for everyone. Supporting the ZooX Fund will directly fund a range of scientific endeavours that will dramatically increase the level of knowledge required to fight the threats to the Reef.
"That climate change presents a devastating threat to coral reefs is now well established. It will take an unwavering commitment, the very best scientific expertise, and a whole of society response if we are to save the Great Barrier Reef, now and for the future. The best resource we have is knowledge."
Judy Stewart, Managing Director, Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
To find out more about how you can help log onto www.barrierreef.org
or contact the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation
PO Box 2725
Fortitude Valley BC
QLD 4006
Australia
T +61 (0) 7 3252 7555
F +61 (0) 7 3252 7666
E judith.stewart@barrierreef.org
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