Oil pollution and Red Sea tourism lead the list

To help save the reefs of Kuwait, get active with these groups:

Arabian Seas Expedition

Kuwait's reefs suffer the constant Persian Gulf woes of oil pollution and urban runoff from oil ports; a United Nations report said in 1995 that the Gulf was nearly 100 times more polluted than other seas because of crude and industrial waste. Massive, deliberate oil spills by Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, estimated at six million barrels, damaged coral reefs in the region; the corals appear to have bounced back quickly, but the long-term effects are not yet known. Widespread coral bleaching has also been reported.

The Gulf states collectively adopted the Kuwait Action Plan in 1982 to help protect and develop their shared marine environment, but little has been reported about its achievements, and the Gulf region has a well-deserved reputation for ineffective cleanup plans.