Projects
Empowering community-led coral reef restoration and prioritization in the Maldives
A CORDAP funded project that is being implemented with the following partners: Professor Peter Harrison of Southern Cross University; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation; University of Queensland; Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS); Queensland University of Technology, Maldives Coral Institute; Maldives Marine Research Institute; Rathafandhoo Council, South Huvadhu atoll.
Supported By
K. Himmafushi Reef Coral Restoration
Low-lying coral atolls in the Maldives are under significant threat from rising sea levels and warming oceans, aggravated by destructive development practices. As a result, protective reefs have deteriorated, leaving local communities vulnerable to erosion and flooding. The Maldives Coral Institute (MCI) has launched a project aimed at restoring the K. Himmafushi Reef to address these post-degradation issues.
This project has been made possible by the kind support of Der Touristik. The project is also supported by Mars Global and Sheba Hope Grows, and is carried out in partnership with Himmafushi NGO Minivanfaru, Himmafushi Council and community, and Save the Beach Maldives.
Supported By
Contributors
Fulhadhoo Coral Restoration
Ongoing restoration of the coral reef in Fulhadhoo island, Baa atoll
Reef video-surveys taken in January 2020 by the Maldives Coral Institute (MCI) in collaboration with Save The Beach Maldives (STBM) showed a diverse coral community on the shallow reef flat along the northern side of the island of Fulhadhoo, in Baa atoll.
The corals appeared to have survived through multiple bleaching events, as well as repetitive total exposure during low tides. This indicates a coral assemblage that has high resilience to thermal stress. In a warming world, where coral reefs are under severe threat of loss and degradation, resilient coral such as those in the reef in Fulhadhoo could act as a seed source to repopulate more vulnerable areas that have high levels of mortality during the increasingly frequent and intense coral bleaching events predicted for the near future.
However, the construction of a harbour at the northern side of the island in early 2020, including the reclamation of an island on the reef flat, caused direct destruction to the coral reef, as well as indirect impacts from the engulfment of sediment plumes and disruption of water flow which led to warmer water on the reef flat. The combination of these effects led to severe degradation and mass death of corals. Given the evidence of coral thermal resilience on Fulhadhoo house reef, and the significance of the extent of damage to the reef, the MCI took action to restore the degraded reef.
The multi-stage project to restore the reef, which started in 2021, is supported by MARS Corporation, who’s philanthropic arm has extensive experience in restoring coral reefs, and has successfully regenerated over 40,000 m2 of reef in the Coral Triangle.
Supported By
Contributors
Future Climate Coral Bank
The Maldives Coral Institute (MCI) is fortunate to be the first recipient of the Ocean Resilience Philanthropy Fund, a new global philanthropic fund launched by Deutsche Bank in November 2021, dedicated to ocean conservation and coastal resilience.
The Ocean Resilience Philanthropy Fund’s support to MCI is being used for a multi-year programme of research culminating in the creation of a ‘Future Climate Coral Bank.’
As part of the programme, MCI will identify and map areas of greater coral reef resilience to coral bleaching in the Maldives, including a country-wide survey to ground-truth the conditions of coral communities. Once the MCI has identified reefs with high levels of resilience to bleaching, it will collect, propagate, culture and field test the resilient corals, and create a Coral Gene Bank resource for future reef restoration and assisted evolution efforts in the Maldives.
Supported By
Fulhadhoo Coral Relocation
In 2020, Maldives Coral Institute, in collaboration with Save the Beach Maldives and the island community, installed a silt screen and relocated 5,000 colonies of coral in Fulhadhoo, Goidhoo Atoll that were in danger of being destroyed from a harbour development project. The screen and relocation project was supported by Virgin Unite.
