WIO Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network data training course webinar

The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and the Nairobi Convention’s Coral Reef Task Force have been monitoring coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean (WIO) since the late 1990s. Since 2015, lots of effort has gone into data assimilation and analysis for the publication of the WIO and other GCRMN regional reports, as well as the GCRMN Global Status of Coral Reefs of the World Report 2020. Under the project Building the WIO GCRMN to make coral reef data secure and accessible, CORDIO organized an eight-week data training course which ran from 14 June to 2 August 2021. The course aimed to provide skills to regional participants to manage, analyze, and report their coral reef monitoring data and information. It was funded through a WIOMSA MASMA grant and focused on training coral reef data managers on the use of open-source platforms, such as R programming language and GitHub, for use in their day-to-day work. The training was led by Franzhino Smith who has successfully conducted a similar course in the eastern Tropical Pacific.