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The impact of coral reef restoration projects on coastal communities in the Philippines

Bridget Mullany (PhD candidate)

brittany mullany

Coral reefs are immensely important to marine ecosystems and the primary and secondary industries they support. Tens of millions of people rely on coral reefs for their income, nutrition, and food security.

The Philippines is located within the ‘Coral Triangle,’ a hotspot for marine biodiversity and home to the majority of the world’s coral species. Coral reefs contribute substantially to the food security of coastal communities in the Phillipines. However, approximately a third of the Philippines coral reefs have been lost in the last decade due to increased frequency of bleaching events and illegal and unregulated fishing techniques.

In response to this, coral reef restoration (CRR) practises are increasingly employed with the aim to recover degraded reefs. One successful method employed is coral larval enhancement. As such, a large investment from The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is allowing the expansion of larval enhancement CRR across 4 sites in the Philippines (Northern Luzon, Cebu, Palawan, Verde Island Passage). 

With the global research focus on coral restoration techniques & their effectiveness, social research on the coastal communities surrounding reef restoration sites is largely absent from the conversation. Community participation has been shown to be a critical support system of coral reef restoration projects and can influence the success of a CRR project.  Alongside the ACIAR project, this project will investigate the impact of CRR on the coastal communities that live within the adjacent communities. We aim to uncover the relationships local communities have with coral reefs and the CRR projects and aim to uncover the drivers behind community participation and support.

Meet the researcher

Born and breed on the south coast of NSW, when Bridget is not in the ocean she is probably reading about it and researching the communities it supports.  Graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Wollongong in 2018, she has worked in various research assistant roles since then. She is fascinated with human-nature interactions and passionate about fisheries management, coral reef restoration, disaster risk reduction and sustainable livlihoods.