Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Securing a sustainable future for coral reefs in Southeast Asia
The Trafigura Foundation is anchoring a programme to identify and protect coral reefs able to withstand or rebound from the harmful impacts of rising sea temperatures, helping secure a future for these exceptionally valuable ecosystems.
The challenge
Coral ecosystems are ecological, cultural, and economic treasures. They provide up to one billion people with coastal protection, food security, and tourism revenues. But climate change is increasingly bleaching and killing reefs, which are also suffering from a range of threats, including destructive fishing practices, pollution, and coastal development.
Research has shown that some coral reefs are more resilient to climate change, so it is critical to identify and protect the more robust examples to give these vital ecosystems a future.
The solution
The Trafigura Foundation is partnering with the Wildlife Conservation Society, a non-profit organisation with a field presence in more than 50 countries, to deliver a programme in the Sulu-Sulawesi Sea that will identify and protect coral reefs that have shown better tolerance of rising sea temperatures or more capacity to recover from them.
This collaborative programme – involving official partners, communities, scholars, and non-governmental organisations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines will also explore local financing mechanisms for the management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
Partnership impact
Support from Trafigura Foundation will enable the programme to identify and prioritise climate-resilient coral reefs, strengthen the network of MPAs supporting these reefs, improve their management, explore financing options that will benefit local communities, and share knowledge to inform reef protection efforts regionally and globally.
The partnership (2024-2026) aims to:
- Identify climate-resilient reefs in key areas of 3 countries.
- Improve the management of MPAs with identified climate-resilient reefs in 3 countries.
- Develop strategies for sustainable financing of 4 MPAs.
- Strengthen management and policy frameworks for coral reef conservation.
