Experts have questioned the benefits of Australia’s current coral restoration and adaptation projects.

Researchers have urged a reconsideration of coral reef improvement methods, questioning their efficacy in assisting reef health. 

They cast doubt on the effectiveness of these practices, suggesting they may not offer meaningful benefits.

Authors of a new article in Nature Climate Change - Dr Robert Streit, Professor Tiffany Morrison, and Professor David Bellwood - express concern over the current narrative supporting coral restoration. 

“Active interventions make us feel good, and we do need to understand how to protect corals. But the problem starts when we confuse ‘helping corals’ with ‘saving coral reefs’,” Dr Streit says.

He said honest communication about the limitations of these interventions is needed.

“If scientists overpromise and under-deliver, we are at risk of wasting time, money and importantly, trust,” he warned.

Coral restoration and adaptation strategies often include “outplanting” coral from nurseries to reef habitats, selective breeding, or reducing stressors such as predators. 

Despite these efforts, the researchers argue that large-scale restoration is “costly, premature, and doomed to fail” unless climate change is addressed by reducing carbon emissions.

The paper highlights evidence from the northern Great Barrier Reef where natural regrowth followed major bleaching events. 

“Current and future heatwaves will continue to kill these re-grown corals, rendering this natural success ephemeral,” the authors say. 

They contend that there is no significant evidence suggesting the ecological dynamics that facilitated this regrowth will cease or that active interventions will have any substantial impact on coral populations.

Professor Bellwood criticised the scientific support for these interventions, describing them as providing “psychological relief and cosmetic conservation” rather than genuine solutions. “Unhealthy reefs lose corals but simply adding corals will not necessarily make reefs healthy,” he said. 

The researchers advocate for a more evidence-based approach that does not devolve into a divisive pro- or anti-intervention stance. 

“We need systematic, evidence-based and financially independent science that can inform a decarbonised economy and how humanity can cope with changing reef systems,” Professor Morrison said.

While acknowledging the potential benefits of coral gardening on a small scale, the researchers call for broader investigations to build a knowledge base for more transformative solutions. 

“Coral reefs deserve more nuance,” the researchers say, calling for balanced and comprehensive scientific inquiry to develop long-term, workable solutions.