WORKSHOPS

As global investments and commitments to restore degraded ecosystems accelerate, coral restoration risks being left out of emerging frameworks if it remains focused narrowly on coral quantities and isolated metrics, rather than integrative reef recovery. This workshop will identify key knowledge and resource gaps, explore how to shift from a focus on quantity to quality, and develop tools that help practitioners track progress toward local and global recovery targets. Participants will engage in interactive discussions and have opportunities to contribute to resulting publications and products aimed at elevating coral restoration within the broader restoration agenda.

The proposed workshop aims to strengthen coral reef restoration in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) by enhancing regional and international collaboration. It will facilitate the exchange and comparison of restoration experiences and protocols across the region, identify effective strategies, success indicators, and lessons learned, and highlight short- and long-term opportunities for collaboration among key institutions and actors. This initiative seeks to strengthen scientific collaboration, expand the network, and engage scientists, managers, practitioners, and NGOs working across the ETP.

At Reef Futures 2024 we collaborated creating a memorable closing ceremony entertainment item, One Reef More on the back of our Creative Communications workshop. This time at Reef Futures 2026 we would like to propose another creative communications workshop and coral restoration focused performance to be performed at the closing ceremony. The intended outcome is to engage and inspire participants and create a memorable experience for all RF participants.

Thermal tolerance is only part of the story. This workshop goes beyond temperature to tackle the biological and environmental cofactors that determine whether corals die, bleach, or thrive during marine heatwaves. Through interactive breakout sessions, participants will prioritize key cofactors, map them to physiological mechanisms, and co-design community-scale mesocosm experiments that test how combinations of conditions create reef refugia. If you want to move from single-factor studies to integrated, multidisciplinary experimental frameworks, this workshop offers the collaborative space to do it.

The purpose of this workshop is to explore the critical linkages between land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) reduction via watershed restoration and the success and efficacy of in-water coral reef restoration projects. The intended audience is resource managers and restoration practitioners of coral and watershed restoration projects.

The goal of the workshop is to provide participants with a hands-on learning opportunity and the knowledge to troubleshoot issues and bring back their experience to their respective programs and projects. This workshop will connect coral restoration practitioners with little or no experience with microfragmentation techniques and provide a general introduction to the tools and methodology. **This workshop is being offered 4 times. Register ONLY for 1 session**

We invite coral restoration practitioners, researchers, NGOs, community organisations, tourism operators, and industry partners to this interactive workshop to explore how multiple restoration approaches should be integrated to improve reef resilience and recovery in a rapidly changing world. Guided by the shared learnings and diverse experiences of Mars Sustainable Solutions' (MSS) collaborative network which spans more than 130 restoration sites and 50 global partners, participants will together examine how physical and biological restoration techniques could and should be combined to deliver and maintain ecological function, enhance post-disturbance recovery potential, and ultimately drive long-term restoration success in an increasingly unpredictable and volatile world. Through a review of existing restoration innovations and collaborative opportunities, attendees will help shape a shared playbook for integrated reef restoration as well as identify opportunities for collaborations aimed at rapidly testing integrated restoration tools across a range of environmental settings.

This half-day workshop introduces the Caribbean Coral Emergency Response Plan (CCERP)—a regional, manager-facing framework for preparing for and responding to coral reef emergencies across the Wider Caribbean, from bleaching and disease to physical damage and pollution. Through facilitated breakouts, participants will pressure-test the Plan against real case studies, walk through its trigger system and response tools, and help shape its final technical components. It's a chance for managers, practitioners, scientists, and donors to leave with a practical framework they can apply at home.

As coral reefs continue to decline globally, this workshop will bring together a group of Pew Marine Fellows and restoration practitioners working across diverse geographies, environmental conditions, levels of genetic diversity, and stakeholder contexts to bridge science and practice in coral reef restoration. Participants will share lessons learned, evaluate emerging tools and approaches, and identify strategies to improve the resilience, effectiveness, and long-term impact of restoration efforts worldwide.

Is your restoration work being impacted by climate change? Are you looking for ways to ensure your nursery-reared corals survive future environmental extremes? Have you considered implementing measurements to improve the likelihood of your coral outplants surviving future stressors? In this workshop, we will share knowledge about how to move beyond traditional approaches and actively boost coral adaptation rates to future stressors. We want to hear from you: we will discuss how established restoration activities can be adapted to integrate climate-smart strategies to improve coral survival.

This workshop is recommended for restoration practicioners!