World Wide Fund for Nature is a leading global conservation organization with a network active in more than 100 countries. WWF-Hong Kong has been working since 1981 to conserve Hong Kong's biological diversity, aiming to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. Over the past 50 years, coral communities in the Tolo Harbour and Channel of Hong Kong have greatly diminished in size and quality. To protect these vital parts of our marine ecosystem, WWF's Oceans Conservation Team, in collaboration with the Coral Academy from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, has launched the 'Reviving Our Corals' initiative, which conducts coral conservation and restoration work. It is hoped that through scientific and diverse coral propagation and restoration methods, the resilience and survival rates of corals in response to climate change can be enhanced.
Starting from September 2023, Patagonia's 1% for the Planet program has funded WWF's Hoi Ha Marine Life Centre to establish its fifth set of coral nursery tanks. Currently, the centre can nurture 200 coral fragments simultaneously, providing them with a stable environment to recover. To date, the "Reviving Our Corals" initiative has successfully outplanted over 150 coral fragments in the Tolo Harbour and Channel, with regular monitoring in place.
Hong Kong waters are home to rich and extensive coral communities – we have at least 84 hard coral species in 28 genera, a diversity higher than the entire Caribbean Sea! However, Hong Kong’s incredible coral communities face significant local environmental pressure.
The Tolo Harbour and Channel, situated in the north-eastern waters of Hong Kong, is a marine conservation priority site identified by WWF-Hong Kong. This area is an enclosed environment that used to harbour rich marine biodiversity until the 1980s, when a population boom and urban reclamation along the inner harbour devastated marine ecosystems and the marine environment in general. A decline in coral diversity and an 80% reduction in coral coverage in the mid-section of the Tolo Channel was recorded just six years after the first survey was conducted in 1980.
Once destroyed, it is very difficult for coral communities to recover independently. To protect these vital parts of our marine ecosystem and hasten coral recovery efforts, WWF-Hong Kong, in collaboration with the Coral Academy from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, has launched the 'Reviving Our Corals' initiative, which conducts coral conservation and restoration work. It is hoped that through scientific and diverse coral propagation and restoration methods, the resilience and survival rates of corals in response to climate change can be enhanced.
Starting from September 2023, Patagonia's 1% for the Planet program has funded WWF's Hoi Ha Marine Life Centre to establish its fifth set of coral nursery tanks. Currently, the centre can nurture 200 coral fragments simultaneously, providing them with a stable environment to recover. To date, the "Reviving Our Corals" initiative has successfully outplanted over 150 coral fragments in the Tolo Harbour and Channel, with regular monitoring in place.
To know more details about the initiative:
 
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