Timeframe
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2021 -2025
Lead Researchers
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Professor Michael Fabinyi
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Professor Kate Barclay, UTS
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Dr Nicholas McClean, UTS
SDGs
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14. Life Below Water
- Posted on 1 Oct 2025
This project aims to improve the institutional effectiveness of coral reef restoration in the Philippines, by understanding political-economic influences on governance at multiple scales and applying lessons learned through action research.
Coral reef restoration is a tool that can potentially help to address the coral reef crisis and is being increasingly implemented around the world. However, in order to be effective, sustainable, and effectively manage social and ecological risks, the right institutional arrangements need to be in place.
A project by members of the UTS Climate Society and Environment Research Centre (CSERC) addresses this challenge by supporting government agencies in the Philippines at local and national levels to effectively integrate coral restoration with broader coral reef governance strategies and policies. Among the key factors supporting the success of the project is the deep and extensive collaboration with multiple partners in both Australia and the Philippines who have had extensive research and policy experience with related work on coral reefs in the Philippines.
This project aims to improve the institutional effectiveness of coral reef restoration in the Philippines, by understanding political-economic influences on governance at multiple scales and applying lessons learned through action research.
Among other outcomes, the project is supporting four municipal governments in sites across the country to develop new coastal resource management plans that include coral restoration and is supporting national government agencies to develop new policy for coral restoration.
Researchers
Professor, Faculty of Design and Society
Professor, Faculty of Design and Society
Research Fellow, Faculty of Design and Society
Associate Professor Maria Vanessa Baria-Rodriguez, Marine Environment and Resources Foundation Inc., Philippines
Dr Vera Horigue, Macquarie University
Prof Peter Harrison, Southern Cross University
Dr Dexter dela Cruz, Southern Cross University
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