Community-led Management
Indigenous communities make up only 5% of the global population yet support 80% of our biodiversity. At OneReef, we believe our best prospect for thriving reef and island ecosystems resides in working with the indigenous communities that have direct ownership of them. With the right partnerships and resources, these communities can be our most effective environmental stewards. We ensure their long-term success with proven community partnership agreements that support community-led stewardship and conservation efforts.
Community partnerships serve those stewarding the reefs
Typically, less than 5% of the $20 billion spent annually on environmental initiatives goes directly to the local communities actively managing ecosystems. Our best prospect for thriving reefs is by working with the indigenous communities that have direct ownership of them.
When these communities commit to protecting coral reefs, OneReef commits to working directly with them to support community leadership, enhance stewardship, and educate future generations.
Support community leadership
Through a customized 20-year shared vision plan for each community, OneReef helps each community to take the lead with stewardship efforts. We actively engage community leaders through local events, council meetings, and community gatherings. Once a shared vision is established for the reef and its surrounding community, we bring together government and community leaders, along with other partners, to bring the plan to life. Working closely in partnership ensures effective collaboration and long-term results.
Community Partnership Agreement Structure
setting objectives for progress and measuring success
detailing responsibilities and contributions that benefit all
securing, allocating, and managing resources effectively
implementing protocols for collaboration and preventing conflicts
Enhance Stewardship
OneReef is committed to promoting local stewardship and the conservation of coral reefs by providing essential resources to manage and safeguard them. This includes equipping local rangers with the necessary tools and technology to protect against overfishing by foreign vessels. By collaborating with institutions such as Scripps Oceanography, we facilitate scientific advancements to monitor and measure reef health. We also facilitate training programs to empower community stewards to safeguard the coral reefs along with the communities that rely on them.
Monitoring reef health data
Only so much can be learned by observing the reef from its surface, making it hard to assess its health over time. In partnership with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, OneReef delivers the scientific means to monitor and evaluate coral reef health in far more detail, giving the reef a voice. Now trained stewards can use Scripps’ advanced 3D imaging technologies on their own to effectively conduct surveys of new and existing reefs, which help improve marine management plans and enhance conservation efforts.
Sophisticated camera-based technologies capture detailed 3D images to visualize coral reef growth and transformation over time.
Safeguarding the reef
Fulfilling an ancestral responsibility and honored duty to safeguard the ocean, local communities play a vital role in protecting the reef. In particular, their ocean rangers are essential in protecting the reefs from foreign fishing threats. Recognizing these efforts, OneReef has partnered with Global Conservation (GC) to provide rangers with the equipment, training, and technology they need to face today’s overwhelming challenges. With the latest communication systems, well-equipped boats, drones, and radar systems, they can now effectively keep vessels out of the area and protect these essential reefs from overfishing.
Enhance future generations
OneReef fosters future ocean stewards by helping to pass down cultural knowledge and skills complemented by today’s science and technology. Working with the elders themselves, we’re helping create after-school programs, summer camps, and a curriculum to enrich traditional learning spaces. Through hands-on learning, including sustainable fishing techniques, farming, sea voyaging, and even survival skills, future stewards are educated and inspired to carry on the dedicated work of their ancestors.
Connecting elders and youth
Reconnecting elders with youth so they can pass along their cultural knowledge and ensure ocean stewardship lives on
Building a kinship with nature
Create hands-on learning opportunities, teach skills like building a canoe, learning collaboration, and valuable cultural and environmental knowledge
Traditional learning
Enriching traditional learning spaces, we have built a curriculum to help educate and inspire tomorrow’s ocean stewards
