Rise of the reef brigades
HONG KONG - Conservation group The Nature Conservancy’s vision for the future of coral protection involves speed boats, and a global army of snorkellers and divers deployed when tropical storms and hurricanes damage reefs.
On Monday, the global ‘Reef Brigades’ plan came closer to reality when it bought an insurance policy on behalf of the state of Hawaii, the first US coral insurance contract, which will provide funds for repair work, building on similar policies taken out in the Caribbean.
“To date, conservation has really relied on philanthropy and government grants,” Eric Roberts, a senior risk and resilience program manager at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), said. “By using insurance, we’re also tapping into the private sector for this work.”
Apart from being a precious nursery for fish, coral reefs that fringe developed coastlines can limit flooding by providing a barrier against ocean storm surges, meaning insurers have every interest in protecting them.
“Even with just the flood risk reduction value, usually that’s enough to make a business case to say, yes, we need to protect these reefs,” Mr Roberts said.
The Reef Brigades recover reef fragments, store them in ocean or shore-based nurseries, and then re-attach them, using cement or epoxy, when it is safe at a cost ranging from $10,000 per hectare to $1.5 million per hectare when new corals grown in a nursery are required.
For the premium of $110,000 in Hawaii’s contract announced on Monday, that state will get up to $2 million of insurance protection for its coral reefs until the end of December 2023.
The policy covers the majority of Hawaii, from the Big Island to Kauai, and begins paying out at 50 knots of wind.
Higher wind speeds trigger higher payouts as a percentage of the value of the policy, up to its limit. The idea is that the payouts are available for restoration work within seven days of a storm. With this kind of policy – a “parametric” policy – there is no need for a damage assessment.
The idea of insuring reefs was first tested three years ago by the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Just offshore from some of the country’s most famous Mayan ruins, local tourism businesses and the government bought an insurance policy to cover their share of the Mesoamerican Reef.
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