Saudi university launches Red Sea coral restoration facility amid worsening global reef bleaching crisis

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has launched a large-scale coral restoration facility on the Red Sea coast, aiming to produce up to 360,000 corals annually and restore 100 hectares of reef by 2030.

The opening of what KAUST describes as the world’s largest coral restoration facility was announced at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Turkiye, according to a university statement published late Wednesday.

The KAUST Coral Restoration Initiative (KCRI) operates a land-based nursery and research campus. It aims to plant more than 2 million corals across 100 hectares of reef at Shushah Island by 2030 and establish a resilient reef ecosystem by 2040.