PICRC hosts community meetings to discuss coral restoration sites in two states

On Wednesday, August 7, the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) held a joint community meeting with members of the Ngarchelong and Ngaraard states communities to understand their ideas for coral restoration efforts in Palau and identify potential coral restoration sites in their states. This was part of a broader collaborative project with The Nature Conservancy, Micronesia and Polynesia, and the University of Newcastle focused on creating and testing a climate-smart adaptive management framework for Palau’s coral reefs. The project aims to advance community-led coral reef management in collaboration with different coral reef stakeholder groups and scientific advisors. Many local coral reef users attended Wednesday’s meeting, contributing valuable insights into the state of Palau’s coral reefs.

Climate change poses an existential threat to coral reefs in Pacific Island nations and around the world. Rising sea surface temperatures, ocean acidification, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are all likely to threaten coral reefs. At the conference, coral bleaching, typhoon disturbances, and human activities were all identified as causes of coral reef degradation. This climate-smart adaptive management framework aims to build resilience in Palau communities so that when future climate change disturbances occur, as is expected, local stakeholders can build on the project’s experience and help ecosystems recover. The framework will include practical approaches to restore and manage coral reefs, as well as guidance for long-term monitoring and evaluation of selected coral restoration sites.

The community meetings were well received and successfully identified three potential coral restoration sites across two states. Following further investigation, these sites will be used to test and implement the coral reef management strategies outlined in the Framework. In addition, the community was able to provide what they felt were important considerations we needed to take into account when developing the restoration framework. These community consultations will be used to guide the development of the Framework.

“The team is eager and determined to help develop a framework to protect the future of Palau’s coral reefs in a changing climate. This framework cannot be achieved without the involvement of local communities, who have valuable knowledge of coral reefs that is critical to the success of this project,” said Adeeshia I. Tellei, Director of Outreach.

The project is funded by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation as part of its Resilient Reefs Program, which works with Pacific frontline coral reef communities to address climate change and local threats.

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