A Unified Response for Coral Reefs: Converging Science, Policy, and Finance at UNEA-7

By Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division, UN Environment Programme; Pierre Bardoux, Director, Global Fund for Coral Reefs, United Nations Capital Development Fund ;Adnan Awad, Senior Technical Advisor for Oceans & Water, United Nations Development Programme.

As the world turns toward the decision making arena at UNEA -7, coral reefs stand out as one of the clearest measures of global ambition. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP30 recognised the centrality of reef ecosystems to climate resilience, safeguarding biodiversity, and driving sustainable development.

A narrowing window and a widening responsibility

Warm-water coral reefs support approximately a quarter of all marine life and underpin the livelihoods, food security, coastal protection, and cultural identity of up to one billion people worldwide. Yet these ecosystems are now nearing their upper thermal tolerance limits. The 2025 Global Tipping Points Report makes one message unmistakable: science is warning that we are approaching an imminent ecological tipping point. According to the United Nations Environment Programme’'s Coral bleaching Future reports, this could mean up to 90% of the world's live coral is gone. With marine heatwaves becoming more intense and frequent, many reef systems are experiencing thermal stress that exceeds their historical capacity for recovery.

Across the tropics, bleaching events are occurring more often, recovery windows are shrinking, and ecosystems are shifting more rapidly than before. The window for avoiding large-scale loss is narrowing, but it has not yet closed.

Their decline directly and disproportionately threatens the economies of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where reef-based economies and ecosystem services support entire communities.

Despite these crises, global ecosystem collapse is not inevitable

Scientific evidence from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)​ global and regional reports demonstrate that some coral reef systems continue to show remarkable resilience supported by genetic diversity, favourable oceanographic conditions, and effective local, integrated management.

This is the essence of #HopeforCoral: a reminder that even amid crisis, we can still chart a course to resilience. The lessons are clear; the world needs robust financial architecture that channels grant funding, concessional finance, and private capital, especially through blended finance approaches, into integrated site management and reef-positive economies. This includes:

• Blue bonds and debt-for-nature swaps that refinance national debt in exchange for marine conservation commitments. For example, in Indonesia, the Governments of the United States and the Republic of Indonesia, supported by the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) and local partners, signed a $35 million debt-for-nature swap to protect Indonesia’s coral reef ecosystems.
• Risk-based financial instruments that increase financial flows to reef-positive businesses.
• In a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) led programme in Papua New Guinea, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has provided a $1 million Blue Economy Guarantee Facility to leverage an additional $4 million in concessional loans from a microfinance institution to support reef-positive Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The facility derisks lending and provides technical assistance to help MSMEs access financing, grow, and achieve long-term sustainability.
• Parametric reef insurance and blended instruments that restore reefs and support communities after storm and bleaching damage. In Honduras, the GFCR is supporting an initiative that combines concessional loans, guarantees, and parametric insurance to help small-scale fishers adopt sustainable practices, strengthen their businesses, and recover from climate-driven income losses.

These solutions reflect the unique strengths of the UN system: UNEP serves as the leading global environmental authority driving science, promoting the coherent and integrated implementation strategies, and serving as a significant policy advocate. UNCDF deploys catalytic concessional finance to derisk reef-positive investments in vulnerable markets—including LDCs and SIDS—creating the enabling conditions for development finance institutions, multilateral development banks, and private investors to follow. UNDP works on the ground in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality by strengthening policies, capacities and partnerships that recognise the ocean as a vital foundation for sustainable development. The Global Fund for Coral Reefs, co-led by the UNCDF, UNDP and UNEP, connects these unique offers with governments, philanthropies, investors, and conservation stakeholders to build a unified, systems-based response to the coral crisis.

UNEA-7 puts resilience at the centre - for families facing rising seas and for coral reefs facing a warming ocean. Our work on climate-resilient reefs comes at a crucial moment, and it builds on something we already see on the ground: reef-positive blue economies are delivering real benefits,” stated Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division, UNEP. “Through the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, communities are growing their incomes while protecting the very reefs that protect them. This is the hope we carry into UNEA-7: when we invest in healthy ecosystems, we invest in people’s future — and we strengthen the resilience that communities need.”

Carrying momentum from COP30 commitments to UNEA-7 decisions

UNEA-7 represents a pivotal opportunity to transform the political signals from across multiple global processes and fora, into an integrated, coherent, and adequately financed global response.

“At this juncture, as we work to secure a reef-resilient future, we are reminded that progress remains possible.” As Adnan Awad, UNDP, reflects. “Yes, we have a major challenge ahead of us, but also plenty of grounds for hope. UNDP’s Global Ocean programme builds the enabling conditions for ocean livelihoods to flourish. When it comes to coral reefs, we are working with our partners to facilitate positive tipping points for recovery and resilience through the Global Fund for Coral Reefs – a public-private partnership that mobilizes catalytic donor and investment capital to tackle key local drivers of coral reef degradation. The GFCR was designed with ambitious goals to protect climate-resilient coral reefs and deliver sustainable livelihoods for reef-dependent communities. It is not too late for positive change for coral reefs and GFCR’s innovative finance approach has a huge role to play in the years ahead.”

Together, this partnership is laying the foundations of a reef resilience economy—one that integrates conservation and finance, nature and livelihoods.

From UNFCCC COP30 to the frontlines of resilience

At UNFCCC COP30, coral reefs stood as both a warning and an opportunity. They revealed how close we are to irreversible loss, yet also how much remains possible when science, policy, and finance advance in sync. Protecting the most climate-resilient reefs is a measure of global leadership and test of will to match the scale of the challenge with the scale of response.

“The task ahead is clear: turn today’s advanced science and knowledge into investment, and investment into measurable resilience. The coming years will determine whether leadership across governments, philanthropies, and the private sector can mobilize action quickly enough to sustain the ecosystems on which economies, communities, and biodiversity depend.” stated Pierre Bardoux, Director of the UN Global Fund for Coral Reefs, UNCDF. “This is not a moment for resignation, but for resolve. Safeguarding Earth’s most resilient reefs is within reach if we strengthen collaboration, expand access to finance, and support community leadership at every level.”

Future reefs will not mirror those of the past, yet functioning reef ecosystems—and the essential services they provide—can still thrive if action accelerates now. The choice before us is stark but hopeful. With science-based investment, collective leadership, the world can still transform tipping points into turning points.