Opening
- Christine Dawson, U.S. Department of State, USA
- Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary
- Georg Heiss, Museum für Naturkunde, Germany (IYOR coordination Germany)

International Year of the Reef
"The International Year of the Reef: Worldwide campaign for local, regional and global involvement in the protection of the reef"
Francis Staub, IYOR Coordinator, ICRI Secretariat

Status and Trends of Coral Reefs and the Impacts of Climate Change on the Reef
"World status and trends of coral reefs and their associated biodiversity"
Clive Wilkinson, Global Coordinator, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network

"Cold Water Coral Reef and the impacts of climate change on the reef"
Stefan Hain, Head, Coral Reef Unit (CRU), United Nations Environment Programme

National Efforts for the Reef Conservation
"Protecting Coral Reefs From the Mountains to the Sea"
Representative from Fiji

Regional Efforts for the Reef Conservation
"Coral Triangle Initiative"
Minister Freddy Numberi, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia, Chair, World Ocean Conference 2009

"Regional efforts for the conservation of coral reefs through the establishment of MPA network"
Atsuhiro Yoshinaka, Deputy Director Biodiversity division, Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, Japan

Global Efforts for the Reef Conservation
"IOC's efforts for the monitoring and scientific assessment of marine biodiversity, including the coral reef"
Patricio A. Bernal, Executive Secretary of IOC
represented by Salvatore Arico, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC)