[Coral-List] Coral Restoration Consortium

[Coral Restoration - NOAA Service Account]

All,


We are pleased to announce the formation of a new Coral Restoration
Consortium. The development of a consortium emerged as a priority
recommendation from the November 2016 “Workshop to Advance the Science and
Practice of Caribbean Coral Restoration.” The CRC is a community of
practice that comprises scientists, managers, coral restoration
practitioners, and educators dedicated to enabling coral reef ecosystems to
adapt and survive the 21st century and beyond. The CRC’s mission is to
foster collaboration and technology transfer among participants, and to
facilitate scientific and practical ingenuity to demonstrate that
restoration can achieve meaningful results at scales relevant to reefs in
their roles of protecting coastlines, supporting fisheries, and serving as
economic engines for coastal communities.



The CRC is forming with full recognition that saving the world’s coral
reefs will be difficult and requires a multi-pronged approach. Immediate
and aggressive action on climate change is paramount for the long-term
survival of reefs; however, carbon already committed to the atmosphere will
continue to warm ocean waters to a level inhospitable to corals for decades
to come. Thus the problem needs to be simultaneously addressed at multiple
scales. Globally, aggressive action is required to reverse climate change;
regionally, integrated networks of protected reef ecosystems are needed to
ensure that corals can survive and adapt; and locally, as threats such as
overfishing and pollution are managed, we need to repopulate target reefs
with resilient, genetically diverse and reproductively viable corals. This
active and targeted coral repopulation using novel ecological interventions
is one way we may buy tropical reefs time to adapt to changing ocean
conditions so that they may thrive in the future.



To help increase the scale and efficiency of coral restoration, we are
focusing on the following topical priorities for the next three to five
years. For each priority a dedicated Working Group is being formed to
develop solutions-oriented action plans and to help establish best
management practices. The priorities are:

●      Scaling-up in-water, land-based, and larval propagation

●      Designing projects to demonstrate multi-species ecosystem
functioning and coastal protection

●      Coordinating and fostering genetics science into adaptive restoration


●      Developing restoration monitoring guidelines and common-access data
platforms



The CRC will initially focus efforts on Caribbean coral restoration, but we
invite participation from scientists, managers, and practitioners working
in other regions to help expand knowledge and collaboration. If successful
in the Caribbean and resources permit we look forward to helping spread
restoration efforts globally.



*To get involved with the CRC and receive e-mail updates on the CRC’s
development, newsletters with scholarly information on restoration,
quarterly webinar announcements, and information on how to join Working
Groups **CLICK HERE* <http://eepurl.com/cUhpqb>*.*



Also:

●      Check out the CRC website
<http://www.reefresilience.org/restoration/coral-restoration-consortium/> -
soon to feature an expanded “Reef Restoration Toolkit."

●      Watch restoration webinars
<http://www.reefresilience.org/restoration/coral-restoration-consortium/consortium-resources/>
..

●      Attend the next CRC webinar on Wed Aug 9th - a live stream of the Coral
Reef Ecosystem Restoration Workshop
<http://uscrtf2017.weebly.com/workshops.html> during the U.S. Coral Reef
Task Force Meeting.

●      Watch the ground-breaking film Chasing Coral
<https://www.chasingcoral.com/> streaming on Netflix
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80168188>starting July 14th.



*For general inquires on the CRC please email **coral.restoration at noaa.gov*
<Coral.Restoration at noaa.gov>* or contact the coordinator, Tali Vardi
(NOAA), or the co-chairs, Scott Winters (Coral Restoration Foundation) or
Tom Moore (NOAA).*



Sincerely, the inaugural Coral Restoration Consortium steering committee:



*Scott Winters, Coral Restoration Foundation (Co-Chair)*

*Tom Moore, NOAA Restoration Center (Co-Chair)*

*Tali Vardi, NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology (Coordinator)*

*Luis Solorzano , The Nature Conservancy*

*Dirk Petersen, SECORE International*

*Diego Lirman, University of Miami*

*Ilsa Kuffner, U.S. Geological Survey*

*Les Kaufman, Boston University*

*Monica Borobia and Lucie Labbouz, UN Environment-Caribbean Environment
Programme*

*Dave Vaughan, Mote Marine Laboratories*

*Phanor Montoya, Corales de Paz*

*Anastazia Banazak, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México*

*Andrew Ross, Seascape Caribbean*

*Gabriela Nava, Oceanus AC*