Blog
Photo by Ryan Pernofski
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Using Native Plants to Protect Coral Reefs
In West Maui, Hawai‘i, CORAL’s Senior Program Manager Jennifer Vander Veur shares how our actions on land can impact what happens under the sea. Run-off sediment is threatening nearby coral reefs and making it harder for them to survive. To address this problem, Vander Veur leads our efforts to protect coral reefs by using native…
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Inside Our Alliance: Painting Utopian Reefscapes with Nikolina Kovalenko
Imagine a world full of healthy, colorful coral reefs. No pollution, no bleaching, no extraction…just reefs in their purest, cleanest, and most natural state. This is what artist Nikolina Kovalenko sees as she masterfully paints a euphoric underwater world of untouched corals in her latest series “Utopian Reefscapes,” on display at Caldwell Gallery Hudson in…
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Tela Bay’s 2021 Closed Fishing Season Shows Success
Tela Bay, Honduras—Recent monitoring data collected from Los Micos Lagoon demonstrated a 483 percent increase in fish biomass after a closed fishing season in 2021, signifying both higher quantities and larger sizes of fish. Likewise, it showed an increase in diversity of species and trophic levels. Los Micos Lagoon often suffers from overfishing, impacting populations…
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We Still Have a Chance to Save Coral Reefs. Will We Take it?
By Madhavi Colton, Ph.D.; Helen Fox, Ph.D.; Lisa McManus, Ph.D.; and Malin Pinsky, Ph.D. The trends are clear: around the world, coral reefs are dying. Just a few weeks ago we learned that we lost 14% of the world’s coral reefs in just 10 years, and that the primary driver of this decline is climate…
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Halloween is Almost Here…but it’s Climate Change that Should Really Scare You
It’s October, a time when eerie legends come alive and the world’s most frightening monsters are out to play. But among the goblins, ghosts, and creepy clowns, here at CORAL, there’s a different type of beast that truly spooks us—climate change. Sure, climate change doesn’t look like a typical monster. It doesn’t have fangs like…
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New Report Confirms Coral Reefs are in Trouble—But There’s Still Hope
On October 5, 2021, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) released its latest international report, detailing the status, trends, and predicted futures for the world’s coral reefs. After analyzing almost 2 million observations collected in 73 countries, one key message is abundantly clear—coral reefs are in trouble. Coral Reefs are Diminishing We’ve lost 14…
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CORAL’s Perspective: Highlights from IUCN’s World Conservation Congress
From raging wildfires to melting glaciers to coral bleaching—it is clear that there is pressing urgency to face the planet’s climate and ecological emergency. After postponing last year’s event due to COVID-19, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) decided to hold its quadrennial World Conservation Congress from September 3 to 11, 2021 and commit to actions that…
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The Allen Coral Atlas Introduces the First Comprehensive Map of Shallow Water Coral Reefs
On September 8, 2021, it was officially announced that a comprehensive map and monitoring system of the world’s shallow water coral reefs, the Allen Coral Atlas, was completed. This tremendous effort was led by Arizona State University in collaboration with scientists, universities, private entities, and NGOs across the globe—including the Coral Reef Alliance. The tool…
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Sunscreen 101: Protect Your Skin and Coral Reefs
Coral reefs stand as some of the planet’s most breathtaking and diverse ecosystems, yet they remain incredibly delicate and susceptible to various threats. Predictions from scientists paint a grim picture, anticipating that by 2050, all coral reefs will be classified as “threatened.” Beyond issues like overfishing, pollution, and climate change, an unexpected contributor to this…