David Obura (Kenya, Pearson College UWC, 1983-1985) is Founding Director of Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa, which supports coral reef and marine activities in mainland Africa and Indian Ocean island states. CORDIO’s work includes research, monitoring and capacity building of coral reefs, as well as working with stakeholders, managers and policymakers to support sustainability and coping with climate change.

The organization was initiated in 1999 as a direct response to the El Niño related mass bleaching and mortality of coral in the Indian Ocean in 1998, focusing initially on Eastern Africa, Western Indian Ocean islands and South Asia. Since the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the programme has also covered the Andaman Sea, and has started work in the Red Sea since 2007. CORDIO is also a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and works with partner organisations to improve coastal people’s quality of life and alleviate poverty through monitoring and research of coral reef environments and the development and promotion of sustainable livelihoods.

“CORDIO uses science to help fishermen learn tools to better protect their marine environment,” says David. “This is often challenging as we rely on the consensus among the villagers and many are wary of environmental organisations as they see us as a threat to their livelihood”.

David’s primary research focuses on a biodiversity hypothesis for coral reefs of the West & North Indian Ocean, through work on coral species and their current distributions and phylogeography, and coral reef resilience. This work is helping to build a regional partnership for marine management in the Northern Mozambique Channel under the auspices of governments through the Nairobi Convention, and among environmental NGOs, the private sector and civil society.

David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University. He received a Ph.D from the University of Miami in 1995 on coral bleaching and life history strategies, which has developed into a primary research interest in climate change, coral bleaching and resilience of coral reefs.

In the past he worked on participatory monitoring and research tools with artisanal fishers in East Africa, and remote reef surveys such as in the Phoenix Islands, central Pacific, and in the central and western Indian Ocean. He was the chief scientist on coral reef and marine biodiversity surveys of the Phoenix Islands leading to the designation of the 2nd largest MPA and largest World Heritage site in the world, and endowment funding for conservation.

David is the chair of IUCN’s Coral Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission and the Climate Change and Coral Reefs, Global Marine Programme. He is also on the Global Partnership for Ocean's Blue Ribbon Panel, GEOBON’s Oceans Working Group 5 and on the Steering Committee of bioDISCOVERY.