Our Alliance
Photo by Ryan Pernofski
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Making Connections Across Melanesia
My work with the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) provides me with many memorable experiences and opportunities. One of the greatest rewards is meeting and working with such diverse groups of people and building strong connections with the communities in Fiji. Following Tropical Cyclone Winston, l discovered just how passionately connected to the Kubulau community I…
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Let’s Not Forget About the Local Communities
Last year, over 190 countries came together in France for the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21). They negotiated the Paris Agreement—a global agreement on limiting global warming. It was a great example of setting ambitious policy to protect our natural resources. COP 21 has been a popular topic at this…
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Poor Water Quality is Hurting Coral Reefs
For many years, few people paid attention to the impacts that poor water quality has on coral reefs. But this is changing. At the International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS), many sessions focused on discussing this important issue. Never has the CORAL team been so excited to hear so many talks on sewage, sedimentation, and runoff!…
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Announcing the successful completion of the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative
Over the past three years, CORAL has been privileged to work with world-class researchers from academic institutions and conservation organizations as part of the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative (RTI). Launched in 2012 with a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, RTI’s goal was to understand how multiple factors—for example, wave energy, herbivores, and the…
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Roatan Marine Park—On Its Way to Autonomy
We love seeing communities come together to protect their coral reefs. The Roatan Marine Park (RMP) in Honduras is an inspiring example of how conservation efforts lead to great things. The success and growth they’ve shown are tremendous. Last year, CORAL invested in the sustainability of RMP with a $12,000 grant to hire a sustainable…
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Rediscovering Fiji’s Coral Reefs
By Jeff Chanin, Member of the CORAL International Council In November 2015, I boarded a 9:30 p.m. flight from Los Angeles and eleven hours later awoke to another dawn in another world. It was my fourth visit to Fiji since my first in 1980, and as I stepped off the jet, I was again welcomed…
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A Hopeful Future for Bali’s Reefs
Coral reefs are a hot topic these days. They’re all over the news—coral bleaching, constructing islands on top of reefs, and sunscreen pollution. Even the Washington Post has been running a series of articles on coral reefs. I’ve worked with corals for more than 10 years and I can’t remember a time when they’ve ever…
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A True Traditional Voyage
The CORAL family came together last week in a unique way. A few months ago, the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) reached out to Jaya Ratha, our program coordinator in Bali, to help organize the arrival of the Hōkūleʻa in Indonesia. The Hōkūleʻa is a double-hulled standing canoe traveling around the world using traditional navigation methods. Their voyage,…
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Photos Informing Conservation
More than a quarter of coral reefs around the world are in a protected area—yet, according to Reefs at Risk Revisited, most of those protected areas aren’t being effectively managed. Much of our work is focused on helping communities develop successful management programs so they can create and enforce local regulations that will really benefit…