The Nature Conservancy (TNC) will host a three-day coral reef restoration planning and design workshop and two-day learning exchange in the Dominican Republic as part of the regional ‘CoralCarib’ project from July 17th to 21st.
This event will be attended by representatives of CoralCarib implementing partner organizations and government officials from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica. Government participants at the regional coral restoration workshop will include representatives from Haiti’s Marine and Coastal Zones Directorate (DZMC), the Dominican Republic Ministry of Environment (MMA), Cuba’s National Aquarium (ANC) and Centro de Servicios Ambientales de Matanzas (CSAM), and Jamaica National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). The workshop aims to provide the participants the necessary tools to develop a comprehensive restoration action plan for each CoralCarib project site and enhance participants’ understanding of a planning process for coral reef restoration activities that considers future climate change impacts.
Scheduled to take place in Punta Cana and Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, the main objective of the workshop is the development of a draft restoration action plan for the six-year CoralCarib projects in the four target countries – Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
The action plans to be created during the workshop will outline goal-based coral restoration activities that will occur under the project. By employing innovative strategies and interventions, the CoralCarib project seeks to ensure the long-term resilience and health of coral reefs and increase marine biodiversity in 1,871 hectares of priority coral reef ecosystems in the four target Caribbean Islands and regionally through scaling.
The workshop agenda includes three days (July 17-19) dedicated to the Coral Restoration Action Plan Workshop, during which participants will collaborate and share expertise to create effective action plans. Additionally, attendees will benefit from a two-day training session conducted in collaboration with the Fundación Grupo Punta Cana (FGPC) and Fundación Dominicana de Estudios Marinos (FUNDEMAR). The training sessions will deal with topics such as coral nursery operations, micro-fragmentation techniques, ornamental fish hatcheries, land-based coral nursery operations, and sexual reproduction methods for larval rearing and settlement.
The CoralCarib Coral Reef Restoration Planning and Design workshop signifies a collaborative effort to safeguard the Caribbean region’s natural resources and its coastal communities. Through knowledge exchange and comprehensive planning, CoralCarib aims to set a new benchmark for coral restoration projects worldwide.
