Here at Reef Renewal International, we are striving towards a future where reefs around the world are protected and restored; restoration best practices are shared and accessible, and ocean stewardship and awareness is adopted worldwide.
For decades, issues facing the oceans and coral reefs have only been seen as a scientific issue, where solutions have been debated and decided upon by scientists. The result of this has been that for many years addressing the building threats to our oceans has remained in the water and not something that has been discussed by the general public, industry leaders, or politicians.
The tides are slowly changing and over the past 20 years, coral restoration has begun to grow as a sector. The truth is, however, halting reef degradation and restoring reefs will not be solved by one restoration project or one technique alone. The solution will involve a global web of partnerships between scientists and ocean advocates.
At RRI, we believe that for coral restoration projects to be successful, local communities need to have ownership over their work and ecological stewardship should be accessible to everyone. Sharing the responsibility of the growing crisis our oceans face, allows more room for scientists to develop innovative solutions, coral restoration practitioners to trial novel techniques, and businesses, educators, and artists to engage with their surrounding communities.
We have developed a successful and thorough training program that can provide anyone with the technical knowledge required to set up a coral restoration project. Our approach is to use this foundational training program to build a global network of coral restoration projects, where the framework for restoration best practices; fundraising and development; and outreach and education programs are already in place so that once these projects are launched, they can hit the ground running. Our network has access to innovative and cutting-edge restoration techniques along with best practices developed from collaborations with experts in the field.
We are thrilled to start growing our network with this new mission and vision and we are looking forward to seeing what this new chapter brings.
