Current trends and future directions for integrating social values into mangrove restoration

Despite the recent rise in mangrove restoration projects, the extent to which many projects include social dimensions remains contested, with limited research informing insights from on-ground projects. To address this gap, we conducted an online survey of different stakeholders involved in mangrove restoration projects worldwide to understand the types of social values (e.g. shared preferences and local priorities) considered in mangrove projects and the processes used by practitioners to include various social values in such projects (e.g. participatory planning).

Creating a National Coral-Focused Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Fiji to Prevent Coral Species Extinction in the Face of Rapid Climate Change: Applying the UNESCO-Endorsed “Reefs of Hope” Ocean Decade Action

In the face of recent setbacks to coral reef conservation and restoration due to intensifying marine heat waves, new coral-focused strategies have been developed to accelerate natural processes of coral reef adaptation and recovery. In 2024, these “Reefs of Hope” strategies were endorsed by UNESCO as an Ocean Decade. This paper shares the progress made and methods used and translates the new paradigm into a proposed national coral-focused adaptation plan using Fiji as an example.

AI for Nature: How AI Can Democratize and Scale Action on Nature

AI for Nature examines the transformative role of artificial intelligence in understanding and protecting the natural world. The paper outlines how AI can be applied to environmental monitoring, biodiversity mapping, and land-use planning, while also identifying the social, ethical, and governance challenges that accompany these technologies. It calls for collaboration across science, technology, and policy to ensure AI benefits both nature and people.

Beyond deforestation: redesigning how we protect and value tropical forests (analysis)

Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, it seemed worth looking today’s trajectories a little further forward and imagine where they might lead. Part 1 looked at possible fates of tropical forests. The first act of the forest crisis was destruction. The second, if there is to be one, must be design—deliberate, structural, and sustained. The world already knows what is burning; what it hasn’t decided is whether it truly wants to stop it.

Reef restoration shouldn’t just be about growing corals - but also bringing reefs to life, new study suggests

Over the past twenty years, coral reef restoration has seen unprecedented growth worldwide. From Indonesia to the Caribbean, thousands of projects have been launched with the goal of “saving” coral reefs - often by planting coral fragments or building artificial reef structures.

Blue Carbon Ecosystems of the South Pacific: Ecosystem Assessments in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu

The project contributes to the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)’s component of the Management and Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems (or MACBLUE) project, aiming to “contribute to human and technical capacity to the mapping, management and rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems.” The MACBLUE project is a joint effort between the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Pacific Community (SPC) and SPREP.

Blue Carbon Ecosystems of the South Pacific: Field-Based Carbon Assessments in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu

The project contributes to the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)’s component of the
Management and Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems (or MACBLUE) project, aiming to “contribute to human and
technical capacity to the mapping, management and rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems.” The MACBLUE project is a
joint effort between the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), The Pacific Community (SPC) and
SPREP. Its aim is to “strengthen coastal biodiversity conservation and management through protection and rehabilitation