The Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) has announced investments of more than $25 million to scale resilience efforts across coral nations.

Grants will support new initiatives, including a blended finance program for Egypt’s Red Sea, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which aims to increase the protection of one of the longest-living and most resilient reef ecosystems in the world. In partnership with the Egyptian government and the UN Development Programme, the Egyptian Red Sea Initiative aims to establish a landmark Egyptian Fund for Coral Reefs to leverage up to $50 million in private and public funding for sustainable blue economic transition and conservation efforts.

Other investments include grants for the Mesoamerican region, country programs in Indonesia and the Philippines, and an initiative on Pemba Island, Zanzibar, in the Indian Ocean.

“Without collective action at pace and scale, scientists estimate that 90 percent of remaining coral reefs may be lost by 2050, with dire consequences for the communities and economies they support. To face this crisis, the GFCR Coalition has established a robust portfolio of innovative, market-based solutions spanning 23 nations to protect critical coral reef refugia—Earth’s most resilient reef ecosystems,” said GFCR executive board member Peter Bryant, who is program director for oceans at Builders Initiative. “The new GFCR announcements, representing an increase of more than $25 million for resilience-based efforts, will aid the sustainable blue transition of local economies and unlock greater conservation funding flows for generations to come.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/mihtiander)