Milliardærgrunnlegger av Paul Mitchell og Patron investerer i menneskeskapte korallrev

They are majestic and beautiful and critical to the world economy. Coral reefs, often called the “rainforests of the sea,” support roughly 25% of all known marine species. They are vital not just to sea life, but to human life. And the planet has lost half its coral reefs since the 1950s due in large part to climate change.

Den totale økonomiske verdien av korallrevtjenester for USA alene, inkludert fiskeri, turisme og kystmotstandskraft, er over 3.4 milliarder dollar årlig, ifølge National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Det inkluderer 1.8 milliarder dollar i året i flombeskyttelsesfordeler ved å avverge skade på eiendom og økonomisk aktivitet. Den årlige verdien av amerikanske kommersielle og fritidsfiskerier avhengig av korallrev er 200 millioner dollar.

Nå slår et usannsynlig par seg sammen for ikke å redde eksisterende skjær, men for å skape nye mer spenstige skjær: Havforsker Dr. Deborah Brosnan fra Ocean Shot Project, og John Paul DeJoria, medgründer av John Paul Mitchells hårpleiesystemer og Patron Ånder. Brosnan har studert korallrev i mer enn 25 år, med et spesifikt fokus på Karibia.

“Coral reefs are at risk. We have lost more than a third of coral reefs already,” Brosnan told CNBC. “And the prognosis for losing more is high. So right now today, we lose more coral reefs in a day than we can restore in a decade.”

Coral reefs are one of the most important ecosystems on the planet, according to Brosnan, who explained that while they occupy a fraction of the sea floor, they support more than half a billion people a day. A living coral reef will break 95% of a wave’s energy, which means it creates a calm lagoon and protects us from storm surge. Reefs are mitigating sea level rise.

Brosnan’s solution is not to restore damaged reefs, but rather replace them with manmade reefs designed to be far more resilient to climate change.

 “We came up with the technology to figure out the shape that a reef should be and the size that the reef should be in order to promote biodiversity and to protect the coastline,” explained Brosnan.

The reefs are made of a PH-neutral concrete — calcium carbonate, which mimics the natural makeup of reefs. It’s a dead skeleton, but then the team attaches corals grown in a nursery — 300 of them from 3 different species. Fish then move in. 

I fjor høst ble det første prosjektet installert utenfor kysten av Antigua og Barbuda. Det var verken enkelt eller billig, men Brosnan fant en milliardærstøttespiller, DeJoria, for å finansiere prosjektet, som kostet rundt 1 million dollar.

“It’s my way of paying a little bit of rent for being here on the planet earth,” said DeJoria, who has a real estate project on Barbuda.

“I’m doing a billion-dollar project of fine beautiful homes. Incredible. It’s a big project,” he explained. “The people, they are very wealthy people, and they love the fact that everybody’s getting a good job, making good money, and that we’re bringing the reefs back.”

While DeJoria touts the jobs he’ll bring to the islands, restoring the reefs has a much wider economic impact.

“When you lose a coral reef, you lose extraordinary beauty, so when that disappears, tourism goes down because it’s not a nice place to go. Added to that the fisheries. Coral is vitally important for fisheries,” said Brosnan.

 Brosnan og DeJoria har til hensikt å bygge et anlegg på Barbuda for å produsere disse skjærene, som deretter kan installeres hvor som helst i verden. De har to til klare til å gå. Teknologien er der, men muligheten til å skalere den er et større økonomisk hinder.

 “The question is, will the world listen?” asked Brosnan. “This is very doable. This is doable in the region, it is doable globally. What we need is the investment in the technology, the investment in the deployment, and the recognition that there is a return on that investment in terms of our own health, our own safety on the coast, and the livelihood of at least a billion people on the planet.”