The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today launched its 2025–2030 Coral Reef Conservation Strategy, a landmark plan to conserve the world’s most climate-resilient coral reefs. Rooted in more than 40 years of WCS experience and new cutting-edge science, the strategy places high integrity climate-resilient coral reefs (HICOR) at the heart of global conservation action.
Coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots and lifelines for coastal communities, covering less than 1% of the ocean but sustaining more than 25% of marine species and supporting nearly 1 billion people. Yet, they are among the ecosystems most at risk from climate change – some estimates show half of the world’s live coral has already been lost with the worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80% of the planet’s reefs.
