The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today launched its 2025–2030 Coral Reef Conservation Strategy, a landmark plan to conserve the world’s most climate-resilient coral reefs. Rooted in more than 40 years of WCS experience and new cutting-edge science, the strategy places high integrity climate-resilient coral reefs (HICOR) at the heart of global conservation action.
Image Credit: WCS © Steve De Neef
Coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots and lifelines for coastal communities, covering less than 1 % of the ocean but sustaining more than 25 % of marine species and supporting nearly 1 billion people. Yet, they are among the ecosystems most at risk from climate change – some estimates show half of the world’s live coral has already been lost with the worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80 % of the planet’s reefs.
But not all hope is lost.
“The world has likely already crossed 1.5 °C of warming, and coral reefs are at a tipping point, but our science shows a clear path forward,” said Dr. Stacy Jupiter, Executive Director of WCS’s Global Marine Program. “Some coral reefs are defying the odds and have the ability to survive and fight back against the impacts of climate change – if we find them and protect them. This strategy is our commitment to act on that evidence.”
To turn the tide for coral, WCS is centering its new strategy on these high integrity climate-resilient coral reefs: reefs with enough live coral cover, species diversity, and reef fish biomass to avoid, resist, and recover from climate impacts. These are the reefs with the ecological integrity needed to withstand climate impacts and serve as the foundations for nature’s global recovery.
"This strategy is about more than just preventing loss and saving coral reefs,” said Dr. Emily Darling, Director of Coral Reef Conservation at WCS who led the strategy process. “It’s about building a future where oceans thrive, communities prosper, and hope endures. By focusing on the coral reefs most likely to withstand climate change, we can spark recovery, build a resilient future, and show what’s possible when science, collaboration, and commitment come together."
The new strategy sets out three goals: 1) understand and identify HICOR, 2) safeguard reefs through diverse and integrated conservation action, and 3) connect people to drive system-level change. By 2030, WCS and partners will:
- Deliver a new global map of high integrity climate-resilient reefs, pinpointing the reefs most likely to survive climate change and guiding where the world should invest most in protection and management.
- Help ensure at least 30 new marine protected areas include HICOR, directly expanding protection for reefs that matter most.
- Scale solutions, from co-managed fisheries to pollution reduction, to reduce reef threats across at least 100,000 km2 of coastal areas.
- Support governments to launch 5 national coral reef action plans that put HICOR at the center of climate and biodiversity strategies.
- Mobilize 31 countries containing more than 90 % of the world’s reef area to commit to protecting their climate-resilient reefs by COP31 in 2026.
- Drive global recognition of HICOR through 50+ new scientific papers and media features, ensuring they remain top of mind in conservation and climate policy.
“In the face of unprecedented pressures on coral reefs, this strategy renews our focus on resilience," said Joe Walston, Executive Vice President for Global Conservation at WCS. “By combining cutting-edge science, political action, and the co-creation of local solutions, we are investing in the reefs that have the greatest chance of surviving today. These reefs will not only endure but also drive recovery for the oceans and communities of tomorrow.”
WCS runs the world’s largest field-based conservation program, protecting habitat for more than 40 percent of Earth’s known biodiversity in partnership with governments, Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and the private sector. The 2025-2030 Coral Reef Conservation Strategy was co-created by more than 70 conservation practitioners across WCS, who came together in early 2025 to generously contribute knowledge and insights from their cumulative decades of experience in place-based, collaborative conservation work.
This work builds on years of collaboration with long-standing funding partners – including the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation – whose support has advanced coral conservation around the world.