Mars Coral Reef
Restoration

The Coral Triangle Centre (CTC) is an independent non-profit foundation, promoting the conservation of marine biodiversity and the sustainable management of marine and coastal resources across the Coral Triangle. In early 2021, CTC joined forces with Mars, Incorporated to establish the Indonesian Coral Reef Restoration Task Force, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Currently, including representatives from CTC, Mars Incorporated and Nusa Reef Foundation, the Task Force’s mission is to build capacity for reef restoration and resilience-based management in marine protected areas (MPAs) and several national parks across Indonesia. Through in-person and remote support, The Task Force aims to develop an Indonesia-wide network of competent reef restoration practitioners.

In the future, representation is intended to expand to include other restoration practitioners, as well as potential collaboration with governments, experts, and other key stakeholders. In addition, the Task Force will extend its focus to other restoration methods to assess the best practice in resilience-based management.

In September 2022, CTC in collaboration with Mars Sustainable Solutions, launched Indonesia’s first ever multimedia exhibit on coral restoration.

While there are many differing coral reef restoration approaches currently being undertaken globally, this exhibit highlights the Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System (MARRS). The hero of the MARRS method is the Reef Star—a steel structure onto which coral fragments are attached. Reef Stars are then joined together to make strong, stable webs that support rapid coral growth.

The panel at the launch included Professor David Smith, chief scientist at Mars Incorporated, Jos Van Oostrum, Senior Director at Mars Sustainable Solutions, and Marthen Welly, CTC Marine Conservation Advisor who leads our Coral Reef Restoration Task Force program. The speakers explained that the CTC-Mars Sustainable Solutions partnership works at the intersection of business, conservation, science and government, harnessing creative funding streams, community empowerment and scientific knowledge to drive meaningful change across large spatial scales.  These interdisciplinary partnerships form a global community of change-makers, resulting in the restoration of over 40,000 m2 of reef around the world, at 13 locations across 7 ecoregions.

CTC partnered with Mars Sustainable Solutions to establish the Indonesian Coral Reef Restoration Task Force in 2021 to support coral restoration efforts in Indonesia. We also work with communities to plant coral and rebuild local reefs where visitors can directly adopt a coral after their visit.

Our coral restoration exhibition is one of a series of exhibitions that we will be launching in the next couple of weeks in the run up to the full opening of our Exhibition Hall in the last quarter of 2022. Our exhibitions focus on marine ecosystems as well as threats and solutions.

The coral restoration exhibition merges art, gamification and science, but also our long-term partnership with the Mars Sustainable Solutions team. The aim is to further advance coral restoration in Indonesia and help ensure that it contributes to the resilience of our reefs against various threats, inspiring others to protect our oceans