BACKGROUND
Founded in 2022 by Jeimila Donty, Koraï is the embodiment of a new generation of climate positive companies, who switched the business model of a former family coral farm to a nature-based solution builder with one goal: regenerate marine ecosystems of coastal Africa.
Location
Nosy Be, Madagascar
Topics
Coral reef restoration, blue economy, scientific monitoring, community engagement, team-building
Context
After running a pilot test to rehabilitate the reef of Nosy Antsoha island in Madagascar, Koraï sourced Moshun to reassess the state of the reef of the Nosy Be archipelago as well as design and implement a scalable multi-year coral reef restoration strategy.
Set-up
Moshun deployed two of its scouts, Evelyne Chavent (Marine biologist & coral reef ecologist) and Camille Roques (Scientific diver & field operations manager), for a 4-month on-site mission from May to August, 2024. They teamed up with two malagasy interns in-training, Dayda Rakotomahatsiaro (Marine biology graduate at IHSM - Institut Halieutique et de Sciences Marines, Tuléar) and Edio Toenjara ( Bachelor student in Marine Biology at CNRO, Nosy Be).
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CHALLENGE // SOLUTION
Challenge
To increase Nosy Be’s climate-resilient coral cover in degraded areas by 40% within 5 years, thereby boosting fish biomass to support local fisheries and the communities who depend on a healthy reef.
Solution
Moshun took a multi-layered approach to solve Koraï’s challenge, where the social and cultural richness, and the ecological and economic imperatives, weighed equally into the development of its long-term restoration strategy. Early steps of this process included involvement of the local fishers and community to protect the sites from the outset, and trust their ongoing stewardship in creating positive benefits for all.
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MISSION STORY // LESSONS LEARNED
Before starting the scientific work, the Moshun scouts started with a stakeholder analysis where they listed and engaged with key stakeholders to stem foundations of collaboration and accountability between the local fishery community, government, tourism actors, science organizations, and local NGOs. The first major awareness-building amongst the locals we instigated was to involve the local fishermen community to protect the sites from the outset by consulting them on why and how the project would benefit them. The team provided Koraï with a stakeholder influence matrix with clear posture to take towards stakeholders as the project evolves.
Lesson 01: Without local stakeholders’ engagement, the viability of a restoration project is bound to fail in the long-term.
Since the previous restoration attempt proved unsuccessful, Moshun first assessed the state of the initially chosen restoration area, and concluded that the area wasn’t suitable for restoration due to the zone exposure to heavy silting during the hurricane season.
Lesson 02: Understanding and mitigating the stressors are a key success factor of any restoration strategy, even more than the strategy itself.
The core of the mission consisted in identifying and assessing potential restoration areas with high ecological needs. The team scouted 6 islands in GPS-recorded swims where they evaluated, among other parameters, the percentage of coral cover, its health, coral species, fish and invertebrate abundance, and the substrate composition. The scouting revealed disparities in the state of the reef, with zones severely damaged and others demonstrating exceptional resilience despite showing signs of bleaching.
Lesson 03: A one-size-fits-all strategy is unlikely to produce the expected results as the mass bleaching episode that occurred globally challenged the identification of healthy donor sites.
Moshun later proceeded to cross-check data collected with observations from local fishermen and scuba divers who helped prioritize the sites for restoration effort.
Lesson 04: Making science accessible to local communities means creating a balanced blend of core science and citizen science.
Moshun set up the foundation for a 2-part restoration strategy focused on climate-resilient coral species on 2 different islands of the Nosy Be archipelago (5 sites in total). The first phase starts with 35,000 coral outplants over an area of 6,000 m2 within 3 years, followed by phase two with potential to scale up to 62,000 corals over 13,000 m2 within 5 years.
Lesson 05: Working at scale and maximizing impact isn’t an overnight game, but a successful restoration strategy must prove itself scalable once the foundational work produces positive results, otherwise creating opportunities to readjust along the way and morph as nature dictates.
The Moshun team then started the creation of the first restoration sites, training and equipping the Malagasy team with the necessary tools, methods, and scientific monitoring protocols needed to manage the sites over time. Structures from the initial site were removed and upcycled to create the new site made up of 38 structures. During the field mission, our scouts also outplanted 666 corals along with the local restoration team.
Lesson 06: At Moshun, we believe that a successful strategy includes 20% of thinking and 80% of action where knowledge, tools and methods are shared openly.
The post-implementation finally included the definition of a financial/human resources plan as well as a monthly team workflow and schedule to maintain the restoration program. Active coaching support for the Malagasy staff was provided by Moshun scouts over a period of three months. We have extended our offer to further support the Koraï project with knowledge share and expertise for as long as they need once they have capacity to join our project network.
Lesson 07: A viable strategy must come with a financially sustainable plan and proper aftercare support to smooth the transition to the local management team.
Moshun and Koraï keep collaborating on looping back data collected on the field to Koraï’s impact strategy and its corporate clients, therefore justifying the investments made downstream towards their restoration program.
A true demonstration of the impact loop in Moshun!
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HOLISTIC IMPACT
Ecosystem Impact
Coral restoration is an adaptive process and method, which often takes a lot of experimenting with trial and error to get things right. Marine ecosystems, and natural processes as a whole, typically do not follow a linear path, especially during a moment in time when corals are at peak stress rates, having experienced the worst bleaching event in recorded history in 2024. With proper training and the scientific foundation in place to begin to scale its efforts, Koraï is now equipped to restore the reef with optimal output, and prepare for large-scale impact to match Jeimila’s vision for Eastern African reefs.
Community Impact
In alignment with our approach to holistic impact, adding storytelling as activism alongside conservation work, Koraï focuses part of its efforts toward awareness amongst their local community. Accordingly, while on mission, our scouts joined many local awareness events with the team, including a gathering for World Oceans Day, beach clean-ups, restoration workshops, and community-building with local fishers, kids and other ocean-related community members.
Heart // Mindset Shifts
From working with Moshun, Koraï’s founder, Jeimila, came to understand the amount of work it will take to bring her project from small-scale to her full-realized vision, and has already taken the first steps to being well on her way. Beyond stepping into action, she’s also now fitted with a full crew of motivated, long-term team members to help her build up Koraï. The positive impact will only continue to have ripple effects as this project grows over time with each coral planted.
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You can learn more about Koraï’s efforts on https://korai-africa.com/
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