Major new commitments from the United Kingdom and Minderoo Foundation for coral reefs
At the Our Ocean Conference in Panama, the Minderoo Foundation joined the Government of the United Kingdom in making a significant commitment to coral reef conservation.
Minderoo Foundation has invested USD $5 million in the private equity funds, while the UK has pledged GBP £24 million to the Global Fund for Coral Reefs Grant.
Coral reefs are crucial to maintaining the health of our oceans and the resilience of our communities. Sadly, between 2009 and 2018, the world lost 14 per cent of its coral cover, and 90 per cent of the remaining coral reefs are at risk of disappearing by 2050.
However, there is still hope. The Global Fund for Coral Reefs is dedicated to raising public and private finance to scale solutions that will protect the most climate-resilient coral reefs on Earth and support the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
These announcements were featured at the plenary session of the 2023 Our Ocean Conference and highlighted at the Future of Reefs side-event hosted by the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, in partnership with the UN Decade of Ocean Science, International Coral Reef Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Race to Resilience and United Nations Environment Program. The event showcased bankable climate-adaptive solutions that are already underway and discussed the necessary public and private mobilisation efforts leading up to November’s UNFCCC COP28 talks.
“Minderoo challenges the world’s biggest issues and through impact investing we can help establish and grow ocean-positive businesses that protect, rather than degrade, the world’s coral reefs,” Dr Tony Worby, Director of the Minderoo Foundation Flourishing Oceans initiative said.
“This investment instrument is an innovative tool to leverage government, business and community action to tackle the urgent and unprecedented need to return the ocean to a flourishing state.
“As a foundation committed to the health and sustainability of our planet, Minderoo Foundation is proud to support this critical work,” Dr Worby said.
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Established by Andrew and Nicola Forrest in 2001, we are a modern philanthropic organisation seeking to break down barriers, innovate and drive positive, lasting change. Minderoo Foundation is proudly Australian, with key initiatives spanning from ocean research and ending slavery, to collaboration in cancer and community projects.
