Indonesia reef regeneration hub

We’ve lost half of our reefs in the last 30 years and we’re estimated to lose 70-90% by 2050. However, scientists have found that marine ecosystems can actually recover so quickly that with the right interventions, we can actually rebuild marine life by 2050. We have identified 30 reefs around the world that are an optimum portfolio of reefs to conserve, if restored, they could become biodiversity hubs and reseed other regions over time. We launch each project with a large-scale sculpture deployed into the sea, culturally impactful to become a unique identity for that reef. We partner with local NGO’s and around each sculpture, marine protect the area, develop coral farming and mangrove initiatives. Our pilot project in the Dominican Republic with a sculpture named Atabey, the Mother of Water - from the Arawak/Taino indigenous people of the Carribean. Since her deployment, the area around her has been marine protected, we have launched a coral farm at a local school and we have planted 720,000 mangroves - protecting and restoring the upstream watershed and empowering local fishermen. The sculpture has attracted new ecotourism opportunities to the local region which is supporting local conservation efforts.

We are on a mission to replicate this model across 30 reef sites to create 30 biodiversity hubs for coral reefs. We’re looking next to Indonesia, India, Kenya and Mexico. This grant would support us with our R&D in developing our local partnership, concept, build and deployment of a sculpture and ecological restoration strategy for the bioregion.