[Coral-List] article on restoration

[Douglas Fenner]

       About a month ago, I posted a link to this article by Hughes et al
on coral reef restoration.  I read the article as documenting a lot of
shortcomings in coral restoration, based on lots of references.  Dead
silence.  No one posted any response, and no one sent me an email about
it.  So does that mean everyone accepts it??  Or does it mean everyone who
does restoration is ignoring it and hoping everyone will forget it?  Or is
everyone afraid to criticize it??  Seems hard to believe no one has any
reaction to it.

"Based on the evidence so far, coral restoration could make a small, albeit
expensive, contribution to this endeavor." (the endeavor of trying to save
reefs)

Cheers, Doug

Principles for coral reef restoration in the anthropocene

*SUMMARY:  Coral reefs are critically important ecosystems that
support coastal societies and economies throughout the tropical
oceans. However, many of the world’s coral reefs are already seriously
degraded, especially by over-fishing, pollution, and anthropogenic
climate change. Consequently, a resurgence of ecological restoration
programs is underway in an attempt to halt or reverse reef degradation
and to develop new approaches in anticipation of further declines in
coming decades. Some forms of rehabilitation of assemblages of corals
may be feasible, affordable, and ethical—using currently available
methods and capabilities—for very small areas (typically 1 km2 ) of
high economic value, such as tourist sites. However, our review of the
current and proposed restoration interventions indicates that more
ambitious outcomes remain elusive and may even be counter-productive.
In light of these challenges, we provide recommendations and a
conceptual framework to guide future restoration
projects and emerging approaches, highlighting that coral restoration
is likely to continue to fail even at small scales unless climate
change and other anthropogenic impacts are urgently reduced.*
https://www.cell.com/one-earth/pdf/S2590-3322(23)00189-6.pdf

open-access

Cheers, Doug



-- 
Douglas Fenner
Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
NOAA Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Regional Office
Honolulu
and:
Coral Reef Consulting
PO Box 997390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA

World's richest 1% emit as much as 5 billion people
https://makerichpolluterspay.org/climate-equality-report/

Huge expansion of fossil fuels planned, will be very destructive
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/insanity-petrostates-planning-huge-expansion-of-fossil-fuels-says-un-report

"without policy changes, the world will heat up enough by the end of the
century that more than 2 billion people will live in life-threatening hot
climates"         Will you be in that area???
https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-sounding-alarm-dangerous-problem-123000792.html

World subsidies for fossil fuels reached an all-time high of over $1
TRILLION in 2022, the last year for which data is available.  The subsidies
MUST end.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/fossil-fuel-subsidies-must-end/