It's World Reef Awareness Day on the 1st of June, celebrated annually to reflect on our ocean's delicate coral reefs, and to bring together communities and leaders around the world to conserve these incredible marine ecosystems. Beyond their ecological services, coral reefs are valuable to communities for food security, storm protection, cultural value, and more. But with human activity and a warming planet rapidly degrading these precious and fragile ecosystems, a range of interventions are needed to protect them. We speak to three coral reef ecologists, Sebastian Szereday (Co-founder, Coralku), Alvin Chelliah (Senior Programme Manager, Reef Check Malaysia) and Affendi Yang Amri (Coral Reef Ecologist, University of Malaya, and Researcher, Projek Pulih) about the dynamic ecosystem hidden beneath the ocean's surface, and how they are working through their respective organisation to reverse coral reefs decline. They also help to outline the good, the bad, and the ugly truths behind coral reef restoration, and expand on why preservation is always the smart thing to do.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

<p>It's World Reef Awareness Day on the 1st of June, celebrated annually to reflect on our ocean's delicate coral reefs, and to bring together communities and leaders around the world to conserve these incredible marine ecosystems. Beyond their ecological services, coral reefs are valuable to communities for food security, storm protection, cultural value, and more. But with human activity and a warming planet rapidly degrading these precious and fragile ecosystems, a range of interventions are needed to protect them. We speak to three coral reef ecologists, Sebastian Szereday (Co-founder, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.coralku.org/">Coralku</a>), Alvin Chelliah (Senior Programme Manager, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reefcheck.org.my/">Reef Check Malaysia</a>) and Affendi Yang Amri (Coral Reef Ecologist, University of Malaya, and Researcher, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/projectpulih/?hl=en">Projek Pulih</a>) about the dynamic ecosystem hidden beneath the ocean's surface, and how they are working through their respective organisation to reverse coral reefs decline. They also help to outline the good, the bad, and the ugly truths behind coral reef restoration, and expand on why preservation is always the smart thing to do.<br><br>Image Credit: Shutterstock</p>

Climate change, ferocious weather and ‘the haze’ are now part our everyday lives. How are our lifestyles connected to them, and what can we do about it? What does the economy have to do with it? Earth Matters engages with activists and experts to explore our changing relationship with the planet that we only borrow from our children.

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