Soneva Foundation is working with environmental organisations Coralive and Ark2030 on the project, which aims to propagate 50,000 coral fragments every year.
The coral restoration programme, located at Soneva Fushi in the Baa Atoll, is the largest conservation initiative to be supported by the Soneva Foundation.
The restoration programme at Soneva Fushi aims to restore coral habitats and improve the “resilience” of the marine ecosystem around the atoll. Coral is under threat due to global warming.
Sonu Shivdasani, Soneva’s chief executive and co-founder, explained: “With the global warming crisis, the Maldives has little influence over the actions of the big greenhouse gas emitting countries.
“We need a back-up plan. When finished, the coral farm at Soneva Fushi will be one hectare in size – one of the largest coral farms in the world – and in the ensuing years it is our goal to cultivate one hectare of coral each year at each of our resorts.
“This is the scale that is needed to have a meaningful impact and it also represents a huge opportunity for the Maldives to become a global leader in an activity that will likely have considerable future demand.”
The long-term goal of the project is to become a knowledge hub about coral restoration - both for the Maldives and around the world.
Following a two-year study to identify the most suitable restoration techniques for the Maldives’ marine environment, the area at Soneva Fushi is set to become the largest Mineral Accretion Technology (MAT) coral nursery in the world.
