Plate Nº 58 · recorded November 11, 2026
Earth & ClimateReported finding
Six Metrics Could Turn Reef Restoration Into Bankable Investment
Australian scientists propose six reef biodiversity metrics to underpin high-integrity credits, aiming to unlock private investment for coral restoration at scale.
By Marcus Bennett4 min read729 words
In brief
- Researchers propose six biodiversity metrics for coral reef credits in a paper published in One Earth (2026)
- About half a billion people worldwide get their daily protein from coral reefs
- Coral reef biodiversity credits are already being issued, but with no overarching framework
- The Great Barrier Reef Foundation was a strategic partner in the research
By Marcus Bennett
An estimated half a billion people draw their daily protein from coral reefs — and a team of Australian scientists says the only way to fund their protection at scale is to make reef health measurable enough to invest in. In a paper published in the journal One Earth, researchers led by James Cook University's distinguished professor Morgan Pratchett propose six biodiversity metrics designed to underpin high-integrity biodiversity credits for coral reefs.
The stakes are financial as much as ecological. "There's a massive shortfall in conservation funding, but there is also a clear demand for biodiversity credits … to allow for nature-positive investment by a range of organizations," Pratchett said.
Why do current credits fall short?
Biodiversity credits — such as those under the New South Wales government's Biodiversity Offsets Scheme — are meant to channel money into restoration projects that deliver verifiable improvements in biodiversity. On coral reefs, that verification is currently missing.
"There are already coral reef biodiversity credits being issued, but there's no overarching framework," Pratchett said. "We're laying the foundations to ensure high-integrity biodiversity credits."
The researchers point to a cautionary precedent: low-integrity carbon credits that failed to reduce or avoid emissions, fostering skepticism about credit schemes generally. Building integrity into reef credits, they argue, is critical to avoiding the same reputational damage.
What are the six metrics?
Faced with hundreds of metrics previously used to define land-based biodiversity, the team settled on an optimal set for reef ecosystems:
- Hard coral cover
- Functional diversity
- Structural complexity
- Algal composition
- Fish biomass
- Fish feeding diversity
Together, these six measures describe both the structure and the effective function of a reef ecosystem. Crucially for practitioners, none of them requires new monitoring machinery.
"We chose reef biodiversity metrics that are already widely measured — things that you can extract from most well-established monitoring programs," Pratchett said.
The shift matters because it changes what a credit certifies. Existing credits reward inputs, not results.
"Existing biodiversity credits are largely based on input-based activities — such as planting a coral — but there is no guarantee that this will deliver meaningful ecosystem benefits," Pratchett said. "What we're pushing for is an outcome- or output-based credit — where you can demonstrably prove that you've improved the ecosystem's health."
Dr. Ken Anthony, director of Nature Assets and a co-author of the paper, frames the framework as a verification tool for managers: "We need the right metrics and a robust ecosystem-accounting method to quantify longer-term impacts of reef restoration and other activities, such as crown-of-thorns starfish control. This set of metrics collectively gives us good insight as to whether you've delivered some meaningful ecosystem benefit following a reef management intervention."
Can credible credits unlock private money?
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation, a strategic partner in the research, sees the framework as a funding unlock. Kristina Koenig, the foundation's conservation finance lead, said the work develops more credible ways to measure improvements in reef health.
"This is part of a broader initiative developed by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) to explore high-integrity biodiversity credits for our reefs," she said. "We want to build the confidence needed to unlock new sources of funding and take reef restoration to a whole new scale."
Pratchett argues that rigorous, measurable credits will help drive the private investment needed to address the biodiversity crisis facing the Great Barrier Reef — while the world does the slower work of cutting carbon emissions, which remain the primary threat to corals.
The researchers are explicit that restoration is a holding action, not a cure. Its purpose is to prevent ecosystem collapse while emissions fall.
"If we allow ecosystems such as coral reefs to collapse, there's going to be a whole bunch of other ecosystems that follow — things like mangroves, seagrasses, all these highly productive marine and coastal ecosystems," Pratchett said. "Those impacts are going to be greater in developing tropical nations. It's going to affect the food security and livelihoods of all those people."
The paper is published as Morgan S. Pratchett et al., "Operationalizing biodiversity credits to catalyze coral reef management and investment," One Earth (2026), DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101715.
For reef managers, the takeaway is simple: measure outcomes, not effort — that is what investors will eventually pay for.
via phys.org/rss-feed/ (Source)
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News editor covering regulation, policy and their impact on general science news at SciBeat.
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