Blue Alliance
Protecting coastal ecosystems for people and nature
The Trafigura Foundation is supporting an initiative to regenerate coral reef ecosystems and improve the livelihoods and food security of coastal communities in Indonesia, the Philippines and Tanzania.
The challenge
Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystem in the ocean. While they cover less than 1 percent of the seafloor, they support at least 25 per cent of marine species. They provide critical benefits for coastal communities, including food, economic security and protection from storms.
Yet coral reefs are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as ocean warming and acidification and more intense storms. Reefs are also at risk from pollution and overfishing, and an estimated 14 percent of the world’s coral reefs were lost between 2009 and 2018 – approximately 50% of global coral reef cover has been lost since the 1950s.
Coral reefs have shown that they can rebound if protected from the impacts of human activities. Marine protected areas (MPAs) could therefore be our best hope of preserving these vital ecosystems and protecting the livelihoods of coastal communities.
The solution
Blue Alliance works on behalf of governments to co-manage MPAs. It handles day-to-day operations while governments maintain regulatory oversight.
The organisation works across four key areas: community engagement, surveillance and protection, scientific research, and sustainable enterprise development. It helps create “reef-positive businesses” like ecotourism and aquaculture, with profits reinvested into the MPAs, building self-sustaining revenue streams.
This scalable model enables MPAs to achieve multiple objectives: ecosystem restoration, food security, sustainable economic development, and climate resilience.
Partnership impact
Blue Alliance co-manages MPAs covering more than 1.7 million hectares in Indonesia, the Philippines and Tanzania. With support from the Trafigura Foundation, the organisation aims to expand the area under co-management to 4 million hectares by 2028 and to improve the effectiveness of its management.
Reaching this goal will improve the livelihoods and food security of about 32,000 coastal community members.
The initiative will also contribute to the “30×30” goal of protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030, as laid out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Visit the Blue Alliance website
Photo credits: Blue Alliance; Jesper Anhede; PJ Aritorenas; Thomas Vignaud
