As tropical coral reefs around the world come under increasing pressure from human populations and the devastating effects of climate change, efforts to restore degraded reefs have never been more important.
Coral reefs are vital and are highly biodiverse marine ecosystems, providing a home for approximately 25% of all marine species. They serve a number of important functions for human populations such as being a source of food and other natural resources as well as providing livelihoods for many coastal communities, especially in the developing world. Reefs are popular destinations that provide much-needed tourism income for developing countries while they also offer coastal protection against storm and wave damage
Public-private partnerships
While wide-ranging government programs facilitate and encourage coral reef restoration in countries like Australia and Indonesia, a large proportion of projects are driven by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private sector players, particularly from the tourism industry. Increasingly, for example, scuba diving centres and hotels have coral reef restoration projects linked to their operations.
It is not enough, however, for individuals or organizations to simply select an area and expect to successfully implement coral reef restoration. Robust projects often rely on close collaboration between various stakeholders.
It is crucial to involve local communities in coral reef restoration and foster a sense of community ownership over restoration efforts. Studies have shown that buy-in from local communities is one of the biggest factors to promote project longevity and sustainability. Part of achieving this buy-in is to ensure that restoration activities provide tangible socio-economic benefits such as improved livelihoods and increased fish stocks together with environmental goals.
Kenya – 400% fish recovery, 30% coral regrowth
Many projects focus on involving local fishermen including converting former illegal fishermen into coral reef guardians. In Kenya, for example, the Reel Kalifi project was launched in March this year by NGOs Oceans Alive (OA) Foundation and Coral Guardian (CG), along with a wide range of local actors. One of the main local partners is the Kuruwitu Beach Management Unit (KBMU) which represents Kilifi’s fishing community – 90% of whom are traditional fishermen on the 12-km stretch of reef.
According to OA Foundation Project Manager, Alice Mshai, initial project planning involved over 30 highly participatory group consultation sessions, while project plans were submitted to local and regional authorities and local communities for review and consultation.
“Their review and feedback have been fundamental to enrich the project with local perspectives, including local environmental knowledge and community expectations,” she said. “The project follows successful efforts to set up a community conservation area (CCA) based on traditional laws for no-take areas. Based on this experience, 500 KBMU members voted to set aside further areas for restoration of traditional fisheries.”
This is a fantastic example of building on previous success to nurture sustainable, long-term relationships with communities, as the existing CCA provided passive coral reef fishery restoration.
“Under community management, this has yielded a 400% fish recovery, 30% coral regrowth, and 135% spill-over. These efforts are now a self-financing operation – it is this experience that the KBMU wishes to replicate,” emphasises Mshai.
Indonesia – MPA eradicates dynamite fishing
The Gili Islands, like much of Indonesia, have historically suffered from severe damage from blast fishing. Working within the Gili Matra Marine Park, the Indonesia Biru Foundation began to restore degraded reef areas in 2020.
“At our three sites in the reserve, dynamite fishing was heavy and there was a lot of dead coral rubble,” explained NGO founder and marine biologist, Raditya Andre Saputra.
“Including the local community was the most crucial aspect of setting up the project, and they were very involved in the planning. While there are still some issues like ongoing trawling, local awareness and education have removed dynamite fishing. Community members were part of making that choice – 99% of them now work in tourism as boat operators, snorkel leaders, and other activities,” Saputra commented.
Community leaders often form a vital ‘bridge’ between global science and local awareness.
“Community leaders worked with local fishers to agree on the best method to set up a conservation project, and we got initial local government funding allocated through the kepala desa (local village head),” explained marine biologist Dr. Zach Boakes, co-founder of local NGO North Bali Reef Conservation.
Maintaining cultural traditions is key
The level of community participation can depend on how the work of community members relates to coral reef ecosystems. The provision of alternative livelihoods and training is therefore an integral part of any successful intervention, as community members must be able to replace old, destructive activities with productive activities that still fulfil traditional ways of life, such as spending time in, on, or near the ocean.
“Our co-founder is a former fisherman and the coral restoration project is done in partnership with the local fishers. The foundations of the project are the local community – everything is possible because of them,” emphasises Boakes.
The SEA People, an NGO based in eastern Indonesia’s world-famous Raja Ampat Marine National Park, has to date trained seven local community members – at least one of whom was a former illegal lobster poacher and then compressor fisherman – to scuba dive and employed them as “coral gardeners” with a view to potentially continuing their training to allow them to find skilled work in the tourism industry, where most paid dive jobs are offered to Indonesians from outside the region.
See also: Brazil’s economy to incur losses following unprecedented coral reef bleaching
Mexico – Nurturing pride in the reef
Mexican non-profit, Oceanus, works closely with local communities and the tourism sector to maintain reef restoration. Oceanus has developed a procedures manual for local participants and leaves tools and materials on-site to be accessed as needed. Restoration activities and fisher-led tours serve as an attraction for tourists with some operators even selling restoration site visits as special trips.
“At every site, we try to find a local organisation or community group interested in partnering with us,” says Gaby Nava, Oceanus Associate Consultant. “Sometimes we organise an initial talk to check the public’s interest in being trained in our methods – this way we start with an engaged group who will be the daily eyes on the restoration site”.
Involving local communities directly in all stages of restoration activities helps them to understand the importance of long-term interventions.
“Even when people might not believe in restoration efforts to begin with, when they see the corals starting to grow and the environment changing, they automatically become engaged,” Nava explains. “They feel proud to participate, or they want to get involved and be part of restoration success.”
When local communities take pride in restoration, it becomes part of their community spirit, tying restoration success to social upliftment – and that can only be good news for the coral reefs.
