The Reef-World Kit forms the basis of a series of training courses about reefs and the underwater life that surrounds them. These courses were developed in 1995 and implemented in Phuket for 4 years.

Reef-World introduces life on a reef using neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods are a way to take a fresh look at a coral reef. In the same way that you would look for different areas in a new town (shops, restaurants, banks, etc.) on a coral reef, you can look for different neighbourhoods, where different reef activities are taking place. In different Neighbourhoods, we can expect to find certain animals engaged in different activities.

We classify these activities into 5 easy to recognise ones:

Socialising - any activity where 2 or more individuals interact, includes mating, fighting, protecting territory.
Sheltering - for example, hiding in caves or among branches of coral
Grazing - feeding on slow moving or stationery prey
Hunting - feeding on fast moving prey
Trapping - invertebrates catching prey with tentacles

This simple method allows us to start understanding life on a reef, although it is not a reef monitoring method itself. Reef-World offers training about reef monitoring methods, starting with Reef Watch as part of the UNEP Green Fins project. Reef-World courses have been adapted from 2000 – 2006 for use in local fishing communities in Koh Yao Noi and currently being revised for a new launch in 2008 as part of the Green Fins project.