An integrative framework for sustainable coral reef restoration

Abstract

Restoration of coral reef ecosystems as a management aid has accelerated globally in response to ever-degrading reef health under climate change. As of 2021, more than US$0.25 billion has been invested into reef restoration activities that are often established without the necessary sustained operational or financial strategies in place to meet their longer-term measurable ecological or social restoration goals. Here we consider that restoration programs must be structured as locally tailored, but globally applicable, social-ecological systems, and hence framed as social-ecological restoration. Such a step is arguably critical for restoration activities to define the economic flows and feedbacks needed for leveraging—and adapting to—diverse finance portfolios that underpin sustained operations. We propose a framework integrating scalability and financing of restoration with the social-ecological system using community-led restoration activity on the Great Barrier Reef. Developing such integrated frameworks must be prioritized to ensure effective reef restoration as global efforts accelerate.