The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is a global partnership between Nations and organisations that strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world. ICRI members include a mix of governments, non-governmental organisations, and international organisations. Founded in 1994, the Initiative is currently chaired by the United States of America. To date, ICRI has grown to a network of over 90 members, including 45 countries that are custodians of over 75% of the world’s coral reefs.

ICRI continues to advocate for the protection and sustainable use of coral reefs and associated ecosystems, promoting effective and adaptable real-world solutions to the coral reef crisis, implementing its actions through its members, operational networks and Ad Hoc Committees including its Ad Hoc Committee on Reef Restoration.

The Ad Hoc Committee on reef restoration was established by ICRI at the 33rd ICRI General Meeting, December 2018, in response to disturbances affecting coral reefs, in particular, thermal stress-induced global mass coral bleaching events and the current climate forecasts predicting that sea temperatures will exceed the thermal tolerances of corals. The Committee has produced pivotal publications and resources including the “Coral Reef Restoration as a Strategy to Improve Ecosystem Services: A Guide to Coral Restoration Methods” publication and the “Restoration Hub”.

The Restoration Hub was designed to be a centre point for all information, whether that is the latest guidelines, new and existing initiatives or recent news and events related to the restoration of coral reefs and their related ecosystems (mangroves and seagrass). The Hub makes clear the two defined approaches to restoration, Passive and Active, and presents key resources to guide practitioners to make the right choices for restoration. Supplying information on restoration activities in the field, restoration guidelines, restoration in related ecosystem resources, related news and a Coral Restoration Database - the Hub is a wealth of information to support restoration when and where it is needed.

The Coral Restoration Database provides a review, visualisation, and database of consolidated reef restoration information from scientific publications, grey literature, and surveys of coral restoration practitioners. By combining these three outputs, the database provides an essential baseline of the current state of knowledge of global restoration approaches to inform future research directions and improve restoration on coral reefs.

We encourage you to explore the available resources and information to support any actions concerning the restoration of coral reefs, mangroves and/or seagrass. The Restoration Hub is hosted on www.icriforum.org and can be accessed here: https://www.icriforum.org/restoration/

Leslie Henderson
Photo: Leslie Henderson 

ICRI is continually developing the Restoration Hub and the resources available to practitioners. If you have news, resources, or guidelines available, please feel free to share them with ICRI to be included in the Hub. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss ICRI’s activities further, contact Francis Staub, Global Coordinator, ICRI Secretariat, at; [email protected].

Stay up to date with ICRI’s activities via Twitter (@ICRI_Coral_Reef) and sign up to the newsletter.

 

About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 , led by the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and its partners, covers terrestrial as well as coastal and marine ecosystems. As a global call to action, it will draw together political support, scientific research and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration. Find out how you can contribute to the UN Decade . Follow #GenerationRestoration.