Due to climate change, coral reefs are in serious decline. The latest IPCC reports (October 2018 and September 2019) emphasize that, by 2100, coral reefs will decrease by 70 to 90% with a climate warming of 1.5°C, while almost all (> 99%) will be lost with a rise of 2°C. Under the combined effect of ocean warming and pollution, coral reefs are now reaching a breaking point. Increasing the percentage of marine protected areas (MPAs) is an important step, but since climate change is global, temperature increase and acidification will not stop at the boundaries defined by MPAs. Therefore, it seems necessary to develop a new strategy and to consider new solutions to save the reefs. .

Thus, the Scientific Center of Monaco and the Oceanographic Institute, Albert I of Monaco Foundation have initiated the project of a World Coral Conservatory to preserve corals in aquariums and therefore in a controlled environment with the aim of re-implanting them in devastated areas [1].

Today, less than 250 species of corals are maintained and cultivated in aquariums around the world. These corals taken from the natural environment will be kept in aquariums around the world, known for their expertise in coral maintenance. Using public and private aquariums, and building on existing networks (EUAC, EAZA, WAZA, IAN), we have created a conservatory to establish and maintain a large collection of scleractinian coral species and strains (at least two thirds of the known species [2]) in the form of live coral colonies. This conservatory will also be used to provide corals to research laboratories in order to develop research programs to increase the resilience of corals in order to develop future coral reef restoration [3]. Beyond this environmental and scientific interest, this project will allow a global understanding of coral reef protection thanks to the involvement of the most prestigious aquariums.

[1] Zoccola, D., Ounais, N., Barthelemy, D., Calcagno, R., Gaill, F., Henard, S., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Janse, M., Jaubert, J., Putnam, H., et al. (2020). The World Coral Conservatory: A Noah's ark for corals to support survival of reef ecosystems. PLoS biology 18, e3000823-e3000823.
[2] Hoeksema, B. W.; Cairns, S. (2021). World List of Scleractinia. Accessed at http://www.marinespecies.org/scleractinia on 2021-11-05
[3] van Oppen, M.J.H., Oliver, J.K., Putnam, H.M., and Gates, R.D. (2015). Building coral reef resilience through assisted evolution. PNAS 112, 2307-2313.