About

We did not wait
for permission
to start.

Restore Coral began in the Mexican Caribbean and grew into a movement joining science, art, technology and public policy around one goal: bringing coral reefs back.

The first coral farms

Coral farms take shape off Cozumel, outside the national marine park. Fragments are collected, cared for and catalogued by species.
A movement,
and the first walls

#RestoreCoral is created by a group of young innovators in Tulum. The same year, the Mural Project paints its first walls in Tulum, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen.
260,000corals committed

One vote, one coral

Restore Coral puts a commitment to the Governor of Quintana Roo: one coral planted for every vote. The agreement signed that November launches a state coral restoration programme.
From the reef to the United Nations

Restore Coral takes part in the UN Ocean Conference on SDG 14. By December the partnership record lists 1,000 coral units planted in Cozumel, 70 murals across 15 Mexican cities, and satellite monitoring with the Mexican Space Agency.
Virtual reality,
and a reef emergency

A VR ocean-awareness campaign travels from Mexican classrooms to World Ocean Day in Barcelona. The same year, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease reaches the Mexican Caribbean and Restore Coral joins the action plan responding to it.
Recognition beyond Mexico

Restore Coral appears in the Mexico Pavilion at EarthX EXPO and is recognised by MTV Agents of Change for its virtual reality and digital-gap programme.
The reef goes online

With movement restricted, Restore Coral co-hosts the UN World Ocean Day Ocean Innovation Hub — a full day of talks, films and exhibitions about the ocean.
Mesoamerican Reef Day

Restore Coral convenes MAR Day, a streamed series marking the reef anniversary, and brings art and science together with Gilberto Esparza's Korallysis project.
Blue economy,
and COP28

MAR Day becomes a regenerative-aquaculture and blue-economy forum on Isla Mujeres. Later that year, Restore Coral is at COP28 in Dubai, carrying the reef agenda into global climate negotiations.
Rooms where it is decided

Reef restoration only scales when it reaches policy. Restore Coral spends the year in the rooms where ocean and climate commitments are made.
Blue justice in Nice

At the UN Ocean Conference, Restore Coral presents on blue justice in Mexico and what tourism and port development mean for coastal communities.
Cozumel,
and the work ahead

Restore Coral works from Cozumel across research, social innovation, art and data — still restoring reef, still bringing people to it.

The team

Operators in the water.
Builders on the stack.

Roberto Cerda Zuñiga Director
Claudio Branno CPTO & Managing Partner
Fernanda López Valero Chief Operations Officer
Alitzel Padilla Crowdfunding Manager
Felipe López Art & Wellness Manager
Elle Kozusko Volunteer

Partners

The reef is restored
by many hands.

Federal secretariats, research centres, national high schools, state governments, international cooperation agencies and private partners who have worked with Restore Coral.