PICRC receives $346,350 award from TNC to support its coral restoration work

On January 13, 2025, Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) signed a subaward agreement with The Nature Conservancy for $346, 650.00 to support its work on coral restoration.  The funding will be used to build capacity in PICRC and local communities for coral restoration, forming restoration teams, identifying heat-tolerant corals, and using this knowledge to inform coral reef management. The subaward agreement is set to run through August 2027.

The subaward agreement comes under a grant from the Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP) that TNC, in partnership with PICRC, Stanford University, Marshall Island Conservation Society and Conservation Society of Pohnpei was awarded.  One of the main outcomes of the CORDAP grant is to establish the new initiative called the Coral Futures Academy, aimed at advancing coral restoration efforts. The Coral Futures Academy has been created to tackle three key challenges: identifying, protecting, and restoring corals capable of withstanding climate impacts; scaling up reef restoration efforts while lowering costs and improving the capacity to identify heat-resistant corals; and involving local researchers and community members in the design and implementation of projects. This initiative will establish a team of locally-based experts from Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia to lead restoration efforts across the region. The methods will focus on using accessible, affordable materials that can be scaled up. At the same time, the project will kick off with its first Coral Futures Academy workshop in Palau later this month.

Dr. Yimnang Golbuu, Coral Resilience Director at The Nature Conservancy, Micronesia and Polynesia, and TNC’s project manager for the subaward stated, “We are excited to continue and expand our collaboration with PICRC.  We just recently signed an award of $20,000 to support PICRC’s monitoring program and now, with this $346,650, we will expand our support and collaboration to include coral restoration. We are excited to work with PICRC and our other partners to support and scale up coral restoration, not only here in Palau but across the Micronesian region’.   

At the end of 2023, PICRC and TNC formalized their partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The partnership involves supporting Palau’s ocean conservation and management. Areas of collaboration include coral reef monitoring and research, coral restoration, aquaculture, capacity building, and training.

“With the Coral Futures Academy, we are excited to strengthen our partnership with TNC, Stanford, and the other project collaborators, combining their expertise with ours. Coral reefs are essential to Palau, and this restoration project will be pivotal in safeguarding our reef ecosystems from the impacts of climate change,” stated Imade Tellei, Director of PICRC’s Outreach Department and PICRC’s Project Manager for the coral restoration award.

In reacting to the award from TNC, Roxanne Siual Blesam, PICRC’s Chief Executive Officer, stated “We are truly grateful to TNC for their support on our coral restoration efforts, as well as their support for the Center’s various initiatives.”