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The restoration of coral reefs: Le Monde reports on the Shark Fin Bay project
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Since 2020, the FFEM has supported the Sulubaaï Foundation in restoring the coral reefs in Shark Fin Bay, alongside the local people and villages, on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. Palawan is classified as the most important among the top ten coral reef biodiversity hotspots in the world, being both the richest and the most threatened site on the planet. LeMonde has just published a report on the project.
Located in the coral triangle - the richest reef zone in the world - Palawan possesses a unique marine ecosystem sheltering several hundred coral species. However, decades of slash-&-burn agriculture, over-fishing and destructive, illegal fishing practices have destroyed the reef structure. These pressures have not only resulted in a decline in reef diversity, but also a decline in the fish stocks that depend on it. As a result, the food security of the local population is also at stake.
Over several years, the private Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation (SEF) has applied innovative techniques to restore the reef, and these have already delivered convincing results. The exemplary nature of Pangatalan Island in the Palawan archipelago led to its being awarded the first “SMILO Sustainable Small Island” accreditation in 2018.
After acquiring and restoring the terrestrial environment on Pangatalan Island, the SEF established a protected marine area in Shark Fin Bay which is implementing an innovative local restoration technique: Sulu-Reef prostheses. These provide very effective support for natural recolonisation, enabling the natural propagation of corals and creation of new habitats.
The SEF is also associating these restoration activities with community-based environmental conservation actions, education and knowledge-sharing. Shark Fin Bay is home to a shared experiment titled “The Academy of the Sea” in which three waterside villages are given a marine protected area, with the villagers themselves learning how to restore the coral.