Technology to save coral - 14th May 2021

Coral reefs are dying off in countries as far apart as Panama, Hong Kong and Cyprus. This decline has prompted scientists and volunteers to turn to technology to find solutions.

Panama has a long coastline full of coral. However, much of it has been spoiled over time.

These odd looking structures have been specially designed to provide homes for potential coral life.

Marine biology students volunteer on the project. They observe the corals growing and share their findings with scientists.

In the seas around Hong Kong, there is a wide variety of coral species. Here, terracotta tiles are made by 3D printing. They are positioned on the sea bed to encourage coral growth.

Vriko Yu is a PhD student. She is surprised by the amount and the variety of sea life appearing around the tiles.

Vriko Yu: "I still remember the first time we put down the tiles. There were a few fishes around the tiles and it was making me really excited. But this time, or even last time that we revisited the tiles, we can see there are a lot more groups of fishes, and different kinds of fishes.’’

University professor David Baker believes there is hope for coral in Hong Kong thanks to government water cleaning plans.

David Baker: "In my imagination, we think about climate change is happening, it's going to warm our waters considerably, but as we start to clean up the waters as well through various government initiatives, we might actually be creating a new potential home for corals as they try to escape climate change from equatorial regions."

Louis Hadjioannou is an ecologist from Cyprus. He knows that climate change is causing damage to coral reefs.

Louis Hadjioannou: "In the year 2015 when we had an anomaly of I think it was one temperature higher [degree Celsius] than the maximum normal one, we got more than 20 to 30 percent of corals dying.”

Louis believes in the power of education. He sees children as the ecologists of the future.

Louis Hadjioannou: "Our aim is to primarily educate children, they are the future. They are the ones who are going to become the future conservationists, the future government, the future users of this island and the coastal area.”