Thanks to the knowledge of partners such as the University of Queensland, Arizona State University and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), our Knowledge and Innovation Hub is a dynamic, open-access platform for knowledge management, critical analysis, training, and networking.
We work closely with our development partner CARE International to ensure our efforts bring about tangible benefits for local communities.
The Coral Reef Rescue Initiative (CRRI) has established a network of partnerships that can support conservation on a global scale. They reinforce each other’s efforts with complementary expertise, insights and access, revolving around four key elements:
With the combined expertise of WWF, WCS, Rare, Blue Ventures, the University of Queensland and Arizona State University, CRRI can access a deep well of knowledge and resources, connecting a global network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This elite team of conservation specialists brings years of experience to the table.
All the knowledge in the world means little without the weight of public opinion and the power of funding behind it. Through our advocacy partners, CRRI is working to keep our planet’s coral reef crisis in the spotlight, positioning the problem at the forefront of public consciousness and pushing to have conservation funding prioritised in government budgets.
Our Initiative is led by WWF, in collaboration with leading conservation, science and development partners such as the University of Queensland, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Rare, CARE International, Blue Ventures and Arizona State University Centre for Global Discovery and Conservation Science.
Working in partnership with coastal communities, Blue Ventures develop science-led approaches to marine conservation. Their conservation models demonstrate that locally led management of marine resources improves food security and makes economic sense. Working in Madagascar, Blue Ventures created the largest locally managed marine area (LMMA) in the Indian Ocean, along with its biggest community-based monitoring programme for artisanal sea turtle and shark fisheries.
CARE is a global humanitarian organization that provides disaster relief to areas in crisis, while providing long-term solutions to poverty around the world. They reach out to over 50 million people in 90 countries worldwide, through approximately 950 poverty-fighting development and humanitarian aid programmes that cover everything from health and education to food security, poverty and women’s empowerment. 90% of their income and fundraising goes directly into these projects.
Rare inspires change so people and nature thrive. Working at the intersection of conservation, sustainable development and social change, Rare is the global leader in using principles of behaviour change to design people-centred approaches and achieve lasting results. Rare has partnered with local leaders in over 60 countries to protect nature and the people, communities and livelihoods it sustains.
Ranked in the world's top 50, the University of Queensland is a leading research and teaching institution, with over 6,000 research groups and cutting-edge facilities such as the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science (CBCS). The centre works in partnership with scientists, governments, NGOs and industry to solve the most important conservation problems around the world. The University of Queensland is the key science partner for CRRI.
Headquartered in New York City, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) was founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society (NYZS). WCS runs around 500 field conservation projects in 65 countries worldwide, covering more than two million square miles of wild places. WCS uses scientific knowledge to engage and inspire decision-makers, communities and their millions of supporters to take action to protect the world’s wildlife.
WWF is an independent conservation organization with over 30 million followers and a global network active in nearly 100 countries. Their mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and build a future in which people live in harmony with nature. WWF works to achieve this ambition through multiple projects, aimed at conserving biological diversity; promoting the use of sustainable, renewable natural resources; and advocating the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. Read more at panda.org.
Funding Partner
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and strains on land and ocean health. Its grants, blended financing, and policy support help developing countries address their biggest environmental priorities and adhere to international environmental conventions. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $23 billion and mobilized $129 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 national and regional projects.
Arizona State University's Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science leads spatially-explicit scientific & technological research with a focus on mitigating & adapting to global environmental change. The Center leads the Allen Coral Atlas, a program utilizing high-resolution satellite imagery and advanced analytics to map and monitor the world’s coral reefs in unprecedented detail. The Atlas and its data products support coral reef science, management, conservation, and policy across the planet.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science’s ReefCloud is an open-access platform that provides a fast, up-to-date snapshot of coral reef condition to inform reef management decisions. Using machine learning and advanced analysis, ReefCloud rapidly extracts information from images of coral reefs anywhere in the world. It quickly and efficiently collates this data, which can be shared.
PALO IT is a global innovation consultancy and Agile software development company. Palo IT has partnered with CRRI to design a innovative Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system to effectively showcase and track the overall progress of ongoing conservation efforts. The system enables comprehensive data collection, analysis, and reporting, providing crucial insights into the health and resilience of coral reefs.
Carol Phua is the Coral Reef Rescue Initiative Manager at WWF, where she has worked for over 20 years. At every stage of her career, she has been drawn to challenging projects that require a unique approach, in the belief that working closely with communities is key in the conservation of coastal resources. Carol founded Ocean Witness and was the leader of WWF-Malaysia's Marine Programme and Global Sharks & Rays Initiative. She is also the author and editor of the Living Blue Planet Report.
It’s easy to focus on the negatives in conservation, as the challenges we face are huge; but it’s also really important to keep being inspired and keep looking for bright spots in the work we do. Meeting and talking to people about how their spiritual beliefs and traditions promote stewardship - but also care for resources and the environment - is incredibly encouraging and for me, certainly inspires hope.
Based at WWF-Australia, Aya is the Public Sector Partnership Specialist at CRRI. She has previously worked with coastal communities in the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Palau and Micronesia. A lifelong lover of the ocean, her great passions are free diving, bushwalking and helping communities on the frontline of conservation to achieve sustainable development.
What makes CRRI unique is that it sees the connection between the health of coastal communities and the protection of coral reefs. When communities are proud of their natural resources and have sufficient capacity to manage them, positive outcomes become much more likely, for both the community and the resources themselves.
Chief Scientific Advisor for CRRI and one of the most commonly cited authors on climate change, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg is Professor of Marine Studies at the University of Queensland, where he has pioneered research on the impacts of global change in marine ecosystems such as coral reefs. He is also the founder of the Global Change Institute and Coordinating Lead Author for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
One of my fondest memories of coral reefs is also my first: crystal clear intertidal reefs off the coast of Queensland, ablaze with beautiful corals and spectacular fish. It was the beginning of a love affair which to this day has not ended. But, like all relationships, there are challenges and losses. It is for these reasons that I continue to fight against climate change and other human-based activities that threaten to wipe out coral reefs forever. Losing these ecosystems simply must not happen.
Based at UQ, Erin Lord-Lynch is the Knowledge Lead for the Coral Reef Rescue Initiative. A qualified educator with a Master of International Development, Erin works in related areas such as education and training, capacity building and knowledge management across a diverse range of development programmes. She believes that climate change and loss of biodiversity are the greatest challenges facing our generation and is committed to nurturing sustainable change through inclusion, collaboration, and adaptive practice.
Larissa Sherman is the Coral Reef Rescue Initiative Communication and Partnership Outreach Lead. For over a decade Larissa has been with the CSIRO (the National Science Agency in Australia) as Manager of Communications in the Biodiversity portfolio. With a degree in Environmental Science and experience as a environment campaigner at a number of Environment Non-Government Organisations including The Wilderness Society, Larissa has a passion for terrestrial and ocean based protected area conservation and was recently the Communications Manager for the Protected Areas campaign at Queensland Conservation Council.
Magali Rochat is the Global Coral Reef Initiative Coordinator at WWF. She has previously worked in the sustainability engagement space at the University of Queensland where she helped raise awareness of sustainable development issues and empowered students and staff to adopt sustainable practices. Magali has always loved the natural world and has participated in various citizen science and climate action groups. With a degree in Ecology and Journalism, Magali is passionate about people and community focused approaches to environmental conservation and believes in the power of good storytelling to create positive change.
Margaret has served in Government for 14 years prior to joining the Non-Government-Organisation community. Margaret worked with the FLMMA network for 5 years before joining WWF Pacific. All Margaret's work has been centered around Fisheries Conservation and Management and empowering the I Taukei communities to take ownership of the sustainable use and management of their terrestrial and marine resources and landscape.
Margaret's previous experience that is critical to the work of CRRI over the new few years, will be centered around two dimensions: working across the different communities in the districts of which the Resilient Coral Reefs are to be surveyed, including working with the Committees and the people to review and relook at their Management Plans to be more inclusive and intentional of the protection and sustainable management of their Coral Reefs as well as having this opportunity to marry the science and the traditional knowledge on the uses and the services that Coral Reefs provide. On the other end of the spectrum, Margaret will be using the networks, knowledge and skills around Policy layouts and Governance within the Government corridors as well as working with the Structural Arrangements of the Project to help advocate on the National Plan of Action on Coral Reefs.
Luz is the Director for Project Development, WWF Philippines. Luz has more than a decade of experience in contributing to and coordinating proposal development on marine biodiversity conservation including the GEF -7 Coral Reef Rescue: Resilient Coral Reefs, Resilient Communities.
Shannon's professional career expands over 20 years of conservation experience working in Melanesia as a Melanesian Conservation NGO Director, Conservation Project Manager and Conservation Geographic Information Systems specialist in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Born and raised in Papua New Guinea on the island of West New Britian, he understand the needs of the local people and the rural settings in order to understand the social intricacies of the region. Understanding the cultural, customs and traditional requirements provides an insightful platform when engaging and working with indigenous peoples.
During his time in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, he was instrumental working with local communities and resource owners in establishing locally marine managed areas, and designing the WWFSI community based fisheries integrated management approuch with the inclusion or alternative livlihoods, alternative income and woman’s empowerment and community climate change adaption planning. In addition he has built long term relationships with government departments, International and local non-government organizations, and Community-based organizations and the private sector, in support of the conservation efforts and initiatives being implemented.
Adlina is a Marine Advocacy and Partnership Specialist, with a primary field of interest in social environment, including: Resources Management, the Social Dimension of Environmental Change, Ghost Gear, and Marine Protected Areas.
Studying the social environment has helped Adlina understand that in Indonesia there are a lot of complicated problems that are connected such as poverty, health, education, unemployment, crime, etc. Those problems cause many social conflicts in Indonesia.
Adlina has experience as a Researcher for the Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia and a Program Manager at Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility. Adlina is currently the Marine Advocacy and Partnerships Specialist for WWF Indonesia.
Domoina is the new CRRI Country Focal Point for Madagascar. Based in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Domoina is the Senior Marine Officer for WWF Madagascar. Domoina has expertise as a researcher (herpetologist) and as a lecturer at the University of Toliara Faculty of Sciences. Domoina brings her expertise and experience on MPA and LMMA management the as formerly being a seascape manager at WWF.
Based in Mozambique, Eduardo is also the Integrated Ocean Governance Lead for the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO). Eduardo is a Mozambican marine ecologist, who has spent over 20 years working on marine biodiversity conservation in Mozambique and broader South Western Indian Ocean. Eduardo is a Senior Marine Officer for SWIO - WWF, and holds a Master's degree in Aquatic Biology and Coastal Ecosystems and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree in Biological Sciences from the Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. Eduardo's experience includes working for the NGO, CSO and private sectors, and areas of expertise include: marine biodiversity research, monitoring, management and conservation; establishment and management of conservation areas and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs); environmental impact assessments; sustainable fisheries management and governance; and community-led conservation/management of natural resources.
To restore the world's coral reefs, we need support from all sectors. From individuals and communities to governments and industries, collaboration is the key.
© James Morgan / WWF
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