Reefs of Hope endorsed by UNESCO

IEF member Austin Bowden-Kerby in Fiji and his organisation Corals for Conservation have developed a programme Reefs of Hope to respond to the threats to coral reefs from climate change and global heating. They identify the most heat-resistant corals and move them to where they may have the best chance of surviving the hot water. Ocean temperatures have been far above even the worst predictions the last two years.

Reefs of Hope has now been officially endorsed by UNESCO as part of its Ocean Decade of Action, providing the highest level of international recognition: https://oceandecade.org/. It is the most significant advance yet in Austin's efforts to upscale the work to save coral reefs regionally across the tropical Pacific Islands. The endorsement does not come with direct funding, but it can help in building a well-funded regional coral-focused program to save coral reefs in every nation of the tropical Pacific Ocean and beyond.

The program puts the sectors most impacted by coral reef collapse in the forefront of saving these reefs, in a systematic, controlled and orderly fashion, but accelerated based on the urgency to move quickly. It includes intensive capacity building, jobs creation, and support for community based marine protected areas (MPAs), alternative community livelihoods, and meaningful tourism industry involvement.

Austin is continuing to develop the scientific components of the model, and to challenge its assumptions with more data, to provide more proof of concept and to refine the models as required, before it is widely upscaled at community, resort, NGO, and government levels. Restoration scientists are becoming keenly interested and are wanting to become involved in this work, which should help to fill the many gaps in knowledge. He also continues to develop the community and tourism components of the model, and the educational components as well.

A challenge now is to launch this regionally with a massive awareness campaign on Reefs of Hope solutions and their implementation.

Corals for Conservation now has an internationally recognized, holistic, community supportive, and nature-based model, up and running to save coral reefs from the wall of fire that is coming at them. While the leading edge of coral reef collapse is strewn with the bones of dead corals and local coral extinctions, a massive mobilization is coming with strategies to avoid so much loss, and to get the corals back and in good breeding condition. There are now the tools and strategic plans to fight back.

Austin admits it is not going to be easy, but now he can offer a more productive alternative than cleaning the house before it burns, or simply watching on in horror. The Reefs of Hope strategy is ready for integration into coral reef conservation and restoration efforts all over the planet.

See Austin's video from 2022 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnJ-eUVJwqE. It shows his indigenous Fiji team at work in the Malolo sites, and explains the great need for unified action to save coral reefs.

To learn more about how you can help and get involved, go to: https://corals4conservation.org/