The Coral Triangle Center (CTC) is excited to announce that it has just become an official partner of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Challenge as a marine lead. This is a significant milestone for our organization and reflects our ongoing commitment to restoring tropical marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrasses in marine protected areas. 

In line with this partnership, CTC aims to create a #GenerationRestoration training hub to provide education and training on coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystem restoration. Our efforts in this regard so far have already been showcased through our Adopt-a-Coral program in Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area and being a part of the Coral Reef Restoration Task Force – a collaboration between CTC and partners. 

The Coral Triangle contains the largest concentration of marine species on earth and supports the livelihoods of nearly 400 million people. Our partnership with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Challenge as a marine lead will allow us to amplify our impact and help bring about a #GenerationRestoration.

“We are very excited about joining this important global initiative on ecosystem restoration. As one of the only marine leads representing tropical marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves we feel very privileged and look forward to future collaborations and learning experiences with other partners that have done amazing work so far” – CTC Executive Director, Rili Djohani said.

CTC aims to restore important coastal ecosystems like coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrasses for the communities that depend on them and increase their resilience. They will do this by using science-backed restoration methods. This can improve food security, make the ecosystem more resilient, and create economic opportunities. For example, the training will focus on and prioritize implementing restoration areas where ecosystems have been damaged and not yet recovered, making sure the restoration process is feasible, has a plan for maintenance and monitoring, and is simple enough for remote communities to take part in. 

This will help avoid past mistakes in many regional and global restoration projects. These mistakes include implementation in the wrong ecosystem (e.g. coral restoration in sand or planting mangroves in the wrong zone), implementation in areas with a high likelihood of severe disturbance, and implementation of projects that are too expensive or unsafe to implement.

“Ecosystem restoration projects offer hope to local communities that have lost marine ecosystems they depend on for food security, fisheries and tourism, and the shelter they provide from storms. It is especially important to get it right and use methods that have a clear goal to restore ecosystem function for the long-term. We want to encourage those who want to implement projects in the coral triangle to follow methods backed by science from a ecological and social perspective.”- CTC Conservation Science Coordinator – Dr Dominic Bryant added

CTC hopes that this news will inspire you to continue supporting our efforts to conserve and restore the precious ecosystems of the Coral Triangle.

Text: Dominic Bryant
Photos: Marthen Welly/CTC & Eureka Amadea/CTC