How coral reefs impact our world

 

Philippe Cousteau Jr speaks on coral reef restoration | REUTERS

             The Belize Barrier Reef                   

Coral reefs are essential to coastal communities and island nations, because they are a barrier against storms and storm surge that destroy infrastructure like roads and sand barriers. Coral reefs can be found in places like Belize that is home to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System System and the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, Honduras,  Turks & Caicos that is home to the second finest reef system in the tropical Atlantic, and Australia home to the Great Barrier Reef. 

Even cities Chesapeake, Virginia the Native Americans are grappling with preserving it’s reefs or face displacement once again. The Nansemond Indian Nation is currently restoring their tribal land by planting trees, oyster reefs and removing invasive species according to a WHRO article. The Chesapeake Bay surpassed it’s target goal of restring oyster reefs that were on the verge of disappearing due to development, over-harvesting, wetlands and pollution. The reason why the reefs are important to the region is because they help clean the water, protect shorelines, store carbon underwater and are a habitat for various marine life according to another WHRO article. These reefs also protect the homelands of the people of Turks & Caicos being 87% Black and Belize being 30% Black with a population of mixed people of African descent. Climate change is affecting Black people and people of color all over the world and the coral reef issue is just the tip of the iceberg.

Since the 1970’s 98% of Elkhorn and Staghorn reefs have disappeared from the coast of Florida and The Caribbean. According to Philippe Cousteau Jr, CEO and co-founder of Voyacy ReGen, coral reefs can absorb 97% of storm surge and are one of the most bio diverse ecosystems on Earth. These reefs are instrumental in the protection of land against storm surges caused by catastrophic hurricanes that have increasingly pummeled The Caribbean over the past decade. The devastation impacts the livelihoods of locals who are often times in agricultural industries and benefit from tourism. If the coral reefs are gone, so are the beaches and for many island nations their main source of revenue.  According to Cousteau “We’ve lost half of our coral reefs in the last 40 years” and it also drives up insurance prices.

There’s hope, people like Cousteau are using AI to confront the problem. His company Voyacy ReGen, a blue tech company, focuses on innovative technology to build coastal marine infrastructure to solve the problem of disappearing reef systems. The technology uses a combination of 3D printing and aqua culture to farm coral reefs and rebuild the barriers needed to protect people and infrastructure from storm surges.