Beneath the Surface

Building Local Skills for the Long-Term Restoration of Saint Lucia’s Coral Reefs

Beneath Saint Lucia’s waters lies an ecosystem that supports far more than what can be seen from the shoreline.

Coral reefs provide habitat for marine life, support fisheries and livelihoods, contribute to tourism and help protect coastlines. But these ecosystems face mounting pressures from climate change and pollution to physical damage and increasingly severe weather events.

Restoring them is not a one-time intervention.

It requires knowledge, skilled people, continued monitoring and communities with the capacity to care for restoration sites long after the initial work has begun.

That long-term thinking is at the heart of the “Enhanced Coral Reef Restoration and Capacity Building of Two Local Communities in Saint Lucia” project, an initiative now being implemented with support from the International Climate Initiative (IKI).

Building the People Behind the Restoration

Before corals can be grown, transplanted and monitored, people must first have the skills to safely and effectively carry out that work.

The project therefore began by investing in local capacity.

Nine community members were recruited to undertake dive training, building the underwater skills needed to participate in the project's future coral restoration activities. Their training pathway includes PADI Open Water and Reef Rescue Diver training, followed by specialised learning in coral restoration and basic reef ecology.

It is the beginning of a much longer journey.

These participants are being prepared not simply to dive, but to become part of a local network of people capable of supporting coral nurseries, assisting with coral outplanting and contributing to the continued care and monitoring of restoration sites.

From Divers to Coral Gardeners

As the project progresses, attention will move from training into hands-on restoration.

The wider initiative will use approaches including coral nurseries, transplantation and Biorock restoration techniques, while also considering coral genetic diversity as restoration work develops.

The trained participants will eventually help harvest nursery-grown corals and transplant them onto restoration sites, moving from learning about the reef to actively participating in its recovery. And that distinction matters.

Restoration cannot depend solely on equipment or technology. Its long-term success also depends on having people who understand the ecosystem, can return to the sites, observe changes, respond to challenges and carry knowledge forward.

By building that capacity locally, the project is investing simultaneously in reef recovery and the people who will help sustain it.

Two Communities. One Continuing Journey.

The project is being developed across two locations, with activities progressing at different stages.

At Cutie Cove, work is more advanced, while activities in Laborie are developing through stakeholder engagement and preparations for subsequent stages of implementation.

That means there will not be one single moment when the story of this project can be declared finished.

Over the coming months, SLUNCF will continue documenting the journey, from baseline conditions and training to nursery development, restoration activities, monitoring and the lessons that emerge as the work progresses.

The reefs themselves will ultimately determine how that story unfolds.

Corals will need time to grow. Restoration sites will need to be revisited. Progress will need to be observed, measured and maintained.

And the people who began this journey by learning to dive will have the opportunity to become part of something much larger: a growing local capacity to help restore and care for Saint Lucia's marine ecosystems.

The first dives have taken place.

The restoration journey is only beginning.

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY →

From diver training to coral gardening, outplanting and monitoring, follow SLUNCF as we document the people, progress and lessons emerging beneath the surface.