A global specialist in the study of coral reefs, Serge Planes is a research director at the CNRS and an associate professor at EPHE. He splits his time between France, where part of the laboratories of the Insular Research Center and Environmental Observatory (CRIOBE) are located, French Polynesia, where CRIOBE’s field station is based, and also Australia, Papua New Guinea… wherever his research leads him to explore coral reefs. A passionate diver, ecologist, and geneticist, he led the CRIOBE for over 10 years and currently holds the positions of director of the LabEx CORAIL and the Pacific Coral Reef Institute (IRCP).
« From my point of view, this book represents an opportunity to raise awareness in our society about the
tragedies endured by our planet and above all to not hide behind « I didn’t know »
or « I didn’t realize, » or even « if I had known. » Yes, we know!
Yes, we are destroying our Nature!! Yes, we are responsible!!! By wanting to only look at
the beautiful side of our planet and Nature, we forget that it is not eternal, we
forget that it withers and that we must take care of it to pass it on just as beautiful to our
children tomorrow. I want this book, which mixes beautiful photos of our coral reefs
and photos also showing the dramatic degradation they suffer, to be, for
some, perhaps even in the living rooms of our society, a shock and that it raises awareness of the future
we want. »
Serge Planes