The MSC Foundation and the Ba'a Foundation announced today at the inaugural call of the MSC Bellissima in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that they will join forces to promote coral conservation and help safeguard marine ecosystems. The two foundations, which share the goal of protecting and preserving the oceans, have partnered to promote the practice and science of coral reef restoration and, more importantly, to disseminate the knowledge gained to a global audience.
The partnership aims to promote scientific understanding of best practices for the functional restoration of coral reefs and to increase the area of actively restored reef habitat. The alliance will initially focus on specific locations in the Caribbean and the Red Sea where restoration efforts are particularly needed.
In the first phase of this partnership, a series of virtual scientific meetings will be held to share knowledge and experience and define specific areas of collaboration where it makes sense to do so across all ecoregions. A longer-term goal is to share knowledge and results with the broader scientific community and decision-makers worldwide, as well as with visitors to these destinations, significantly contributing to global awareness of the need for everyone to play a role and take action to protect the oceans.
Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world, supporting more than 25 percent of all marine species. They serve as a food source and economic resource for 500 million people and protect coastal communities from storms and erosion. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists predict that 70-90 percent of coral reefs are at risk of disappearing within the next two decades (2030-2050).
Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises, commented: “Our family-owned company has a long maritime tradition, and protecting the ocean is a core value for us. This is also at the heart of the work carried out by the MSC Foundation, and our efforts in this area began with the Ocean Cay MSC. Thanks to the partnership with the Ba'a Foundation, where a commitment to the ocean is our common denominator, we can now have a more global impact. The Red Sea is home to some of the world’s most pristine coral reefs, and through the knowledge and research of experts and graduates from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, as well as the Ocean Cay research program, we can truly make a difference globally for coral restoration worldwide, which is essential to ensuring the health of our oceans.”
For his part, the executive director of the Ba'a Foundation, Bader Alrabiah, emphasized the foundation's desire to promote initiatives aimed at preserving the environment and culture through national and international partnerships to maximize the role of sustainability and development, as well as enabling initiatives in these vital sectors, also noting that the Red Sea contains some of the most unique ecosystems and coral reefs in the world.
The MSC Foundation, the private, non-profit foundation, was created to lead, focus, and promote the MSC Group’s conservation, humanitarian, and development commitments and to leverage MSC’s global reach and unique marine expertise to take immediate action to protect and nurture the blue planet and all its people. The Ba’a Foundation is dedicated to making an impact in two sectors: the environment and culture. Established in 2020, the Ba’a Foundation is already making significant progress in fostering and developing a strong and sustainable ecosystem driven by cultural development and brought to life through environmentally conscious development initiatives.
The MSC Foundation’s flagship project focuses on the Ocean Cay MSC, located in the Bahamas, 65 miles east of Miami. Once an industrial sand mining site, Ocean Cay has been transformed by MSC Cruises—its operator—into a private island destination surrounded by crystal-clear blue waters. This area is home to important marine species and coral habitats now threatened by degrading ocean conditions. The MSC Foundation, in collaboration with a team of scientists and environmental experts, is identifying resilient coral species and genotypes, colloquially known as “supercorals,” that have survived recent episodes of extreme ocean heat and other impacts on the waters surrounding the island. The Foundation aims to restore the abundance and diversity of corals around the cay by propagating and planting these heat-tolerant coral species and genotypes. Over time, these regenerated sites will support strong and resilient ecological functionality and provide sustenance for coral reefs in the region, helping to ensure their future survival.
The Ba'a Foundation focuses on ensuring a sustainable future for marine life in the region, and one of its key initiatives is the restoration of damaged coral reefs. This five-year initiative will be implemented in three phases: the first will involve immediate intervention on the coral reefs of Jeddah. From there, the initiative will expand with the vision of becoming the world's largest coral reef restoration program. The initiatives aim to mitigate the direct human impact and climate change risks on coral reefs, utilizing international best practices based on scientific evidence while promoting management through the participation and training of local stakeholders.
The coral reefs of the Red Sea are among the most diverse in the world. Corals in the central and northern Red Sea are considered to thrive in optimal conditions and have been scientifically proven to tolerate relatively extreme conditions, including those caused by a changing climate.
