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The critical role of coral reef restoration in a changing world

Nature Climate Change volume 14, pages 1219–1222 (2024)Cite this article

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Recent discussions have raised concerns about the long-term effectiveness of coral reef restoration efforts, questioning whether current interventions can effectively address the ongoing loss of reef ecosystems. However, details matter and vary greatly with respect to scale, social context and benefits, and diverse approaches are needed to maintain functional coral reef ecosystems.

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Fig. 1: Examples of restored coral reefs, coral nurseries and community-led stakeholder initiatives.
Fig. 2: Coral reef restoration offers both direct and indirect benefits with short- and long-term impacts.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Villela for her insights and support with the figures.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Raquel S. Peixoto, Christian R. Voolstra, David J. Suggett.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Raquel S. Peixoto & David J. Suggett

  2. University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

    Christian R. Voolstra

  3. Helmholtz-Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB), Oldenburg, Germany

    Iliana B. Baums

  4. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Bremerhaven, Germany

    Iliana B. Baums

  5. Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), School of Mathematics and Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Iliana B. Baums

  6. Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    Emma F. Camp & David J. Suggett

  7. School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    James Guest

  8. Marine Ecology Research Centre, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia

    Peter L. Harrison

  9. Coral Restoration Foundation, Tavernier, FL, USA

    Phanor H. Montoya-Maya

  10. Corales de Paz, Cali, Colombia

    Phanor H. Montoya-Maya

  11. The Nature Conservancy, Honolulu, HI, USA

    F. Joseph Pollock

  12. Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

    F. Joseph Pollock

  13. Mars Incorporated, London, UK

    David J. Smith

  14. Coral Reef Research Unit, School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    David J. Smith

  15. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Daniel Wangpraseurt

  16. Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, Mexico

    Anastazia T. Banaszak

  17. Simon F.S. Li Marine Science Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Apple P. Y. Chui

  18. Nature Seychelles, Mahe, Seychelles

    Nirmal Shah

  19. Coral Restoration Consortium, Tavernier, FL, USA

    Tom Moore & Tali Vardi

  20. KAUST Coral Restoration Initiative (KCRI), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Tom Moore & David J. Suggett

  21. Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Katharina E. Fabricius

Authors
  1. Raquel S. Peixoto
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  2. Christian R. Voolstra
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  3. Iliana B. Baums
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  4. Emma F. Camp
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  5. James Guest
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  6. Peter L. Harrison
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  7. Phanor H. Montoya-Maya
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  8. F. Joseph Pollock
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  9. David J. Smith
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  10. Daniel Wangpraseurt
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  11. Anastazia T. Banaszak
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  12. Apple P. Y. Chui
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  13. Nirmal Shah
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  14. Tom Moore
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  15. Katharina E. Fabricius
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  16. Tali Vardi
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  17. David J. Suggett
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Raquel S. Peixoto, Christian R. Voolstra, Tali Vardi or David J. Suggett.

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Competing interests

While no competing interests exist for any of the manuscript’s authors, the following information is provided for the sake of full transparency. A.T.B., I.B.B., J.G. and P.L.H. are members of the science advisory board for SECORE International, a restoration not-for-profit organization. A.T.B., A.P.Y.C., D. J. Suggett, D.W., N.S. and P.H.M.-M. are members of the advisory board for the Coral Restoration Consortium (CRC), community of practice for reef restoration. F.J.P. is the CRC advisory board chair and senior reef strategy lead at The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit. D.W. is a co-founder of Hybrid Reef Solutions. T.V. is the executive director of CRC. T.M. is senior technical advisor to KCRI, director of Reef Futures, board member of the CRC and founder of GCS. D. J. Smith is the senior director of Mars Sustainable Solutions, chief marine scientist for Mars Inc. and chief science advisor to the MSF Foundation. D. J. Suggett and E.F.C. are the co-founders of Coral Nurture Program. K.E.F.’s research is co-funded by the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, a partnership between the Australian Government's Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The positions of all co-authors are based on their expertise and remain unbiased.

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Peixoto, R.S., Voolstra, C.R., Baums, I.B. et al. The critical role of coral reef restoration in a changing world. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 1219–1222 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02202-z

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