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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) are focused on identifying innovative ways to effectively protect and restore critical ecosystems, such as coral reefs, in Asia and the Pacific. The need for funding and capacity to protect and restore coral reefs is too great to fill from any one source. The solution will require creative thinking and need to be multifaceted and diverse. The urgency of the crisis is too great to not invest now in identifying and developing innovative financial tools.

Marine coastal ecosystems (MCEs) provide a myriad of services on which governments, businesses, and society depend. MCEs include coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, oyster beds and reefs, salt marshes, and sandy beaches and dunes. As of 2020, it was estimated that more than half of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP)—around $44 trillion—depends on nature and its services (WEF 2020). The ocean economy contributes an estimated 3%–5% of global GDP (Spalding, Brumbaugh, and Landis; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Program 2005; Ferrario et al.