Protection for One of the World’s Most Important Reefs

5 min read

How the UN Climate Conference became the opportunity to get Red Sea reefs protected

On Ocean Day at COP27, the Egyptian Minister of the Environment made an unexpected announcement: the entire Great Fringing Reef in the Egyptian Red Sea would be protected. (That’s over 2,000 km of one of the world’s most important coral reefs!) The announcement and even the name “Great Fringing Reef” was a surprise to almost everyone that heard it, except for a handful of organizations and individuals who had been tirelessly working toward this goal for over a year. 

The Ocean Agency was one of those organizations, and just prior to the big announcement, we hosted an event (at the COP27 Action Hub Amphitheater) to raise awareness of The Great Fringing Reef and its importance, and call for its protection. The event showcased all of the work we’d been involved in to get the reef protected, from taking singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding out to see the reef and inspiring her to be the first major celebrity to get meaningfully engaged in the campaign to save coral reefs, to getting the reef declared as a Mission Blue Hope Spot, to supporting Lewis Pugh’s epic swim across the Red Sea. All of our partners were there; UN Environment Programme, HEPCA, Mission Blue and the Lewis Pugh Foundation together with Ellie Goulding herself headlining the event. We weren’t sure whether all our efforts would ultimately be successful, but to our delight, just a few minutes after our event ended, the Egyptian Government made the announcement in COP27’s Egyptian Pavilion.    

It was honestly one of the greatest experiences of my life. It was like entering a whole other universe. Ellie Goulding
Photo by Renata Romeo
Photo by Renata Romeo

Our work on this mission started back in 2021 when we discovered that the 27th UN Climate Conference would be in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. We instantly knew this was an opportunity for coral reefs. Not only is the host city a holiday resort that’s famous for its Red Sea reefs, but these reefs are some of the most climate tolerant reefs in the world (as identified in our 50 Reefs Initiative). The location of the conference seemed like serendipity and an opportunity to be seized. So, we quickly went to work planning how we could make the most of the opportunity.

We first teamed up with Lewis Pugh (and his foundation) — he was interested in doing the first-ever swim across the Red Sea to raise awareness of the climate action needed to save the region’s reefs.  So we went on a recce expedition together to see the reefs on the doorstep of the COP and we were blown away by their healthy condition. We instantly realized just how good of an opportunity this was. The reefs were clearly a powerful symbol of hope for the ecosystem that’s most at risk from climate change. 

We also successfully applied to get the reefs declared as a Hope Spot by Dr. Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue, the organization that's bringing international recognition to locations in the ocean that are great candidates for marine protection. To apply, we needed a partner organization based in the region, so we turned to HEPCA, the leading organization protecting reefs in the Red Sea. 

Together with the UN Environment Programme, The Ocean Agency presented the idea of the Hope Spot to Ellie Goulding, a UNEP Goodwill Ambassador. She loved the idea of helping draw attention to the importance of the reef and the need for climate action at COP27. For some reason, the campaign to save coral reefs has never attracted a major celebrity before, so this was huge. We knew that if the campaign to save coral reefs could be seen to have mainstream support through the involvement of public figures it could rapidly lead to policy action. This is exactly what happened when major celebrities started backing the ocean plastic issue. 

A month before the climate conference was due to start, we were back in Sharm el Sheikh together with Ellie Goulding and UNEP, snorkeling on the amazing reefs of Ras Mohamed National Park. It was incredible to see how deeply she was impacted by the experience, and we knew we had something powerful when she delivered an authentic and impassioned call for action in a series of videos. 

The same day that we were snorkeling with Ellie, Lewis Pugh swam past us on his epic swim, and I think at that moment we all couldn’t help but sense something special was happening. Maybe this was actually the moment saving coral reefs was becoming a mainstream issue capable of triggering the political action needed.

Humanity has never been on the verge of losing an entire ecosystem before – but we've also never had the opporutnity to save one either. Ellie Goulding

Ellie’s videos were shared, the Hope Spot was announced, and Lewis completed his swim across the Red Sea all in the final lead up to the conference. It was a huge collaborative effort — one that we are immensely proud to have been a part of, especially after the Egyptian Government made the declaration of the protection for the entire Great Fringing Reef in Egypt.

The protection isn’t perfect, as so often is the case in ocean conservation. It still needs to be fully defined and then enforced. However, the announcement is still a huge step forward and should be celebrated. What’s more, the Great Fringing Reef is well on the way to getting the global recognition it needs and deserves. 

It was a collaborative effort like none I’ve witnessed before in coral reef conservation, and we’re so grateful for everyone involved. 

Photo Ocean Image Bank / Renata Romeo
Photo Ocean Image Bank / Renata Romeo

Header image courtesy of NASA