Enhancing coral resilience in the two largest countries of the Caribbean

Abstract

What if the two largest countries in the Caribbean worked together to protect and restore their own corals? Cuba and the Dominican Republic, which, when combined, are almost the size of the United Kingdom, are doing just that! A workshop coordinated by The Ocean Foundation and SECORE International, hosted by FUNDEMAR in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, brought together Cuban and Dominican coral scientists and restoration practitioners to advance a new type of coral restoration that promotes genetic diversity and increases the scale at which corals can be returned to the reef: Coral Seeding. With funding from the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund’s Ecological-based Adaptation Program, this project aims at building capacity on-site as well as strong cooperation and knowledge exchange between nations to chart a future for the Caribbean’s corals and the coastal communities that rely on them.