Water & Nature
Global Coralition is a nonprofit organization that unites art, science and local communities to accelerate coral reef restoration in regions experiencing marine ecosystem collapse.
Project Atabey
We are currently in Sosua, Dominican Republic where reefs have declined from 60% coral coverage in the 80's to less than 10% coverage now.
We are launching a coral reef restoration project here with a sculptural reef named Atabey. Atabey is the Universal Mother and Earth spirit of the Taino people, who are the indigenous people of this land
Atabey is 15 feet tall and stands on a 5 foot base, making her the tallest underwater sculpture in the world. We are practicing micro-fragmentation, a scientific technique that increases growth rates of coral up to 50x faster than their normal rate. These corals are grown in our nursery and transplanted on and around her.
Coral reefs are an integral ecosystem to local island communities. Coral reefs support 25% of all marine life, which includes many fish populations that provide food and livelihood for the people. They also absorb 97% of wave and storm energy which protects coastlines.
We are at a very exciting milestone where Atabey is getting ready to be deployed into Sosua Bay. After she is in the ocean, we will be working everyday growing and planting coral to nurture the site into a thriving reef and rehabilitate the reefs around her. We are training the local community of divers, fishermen and youth to practice our techniques of coral farming and gardening.
The site will be an ecotourism destination, a cultural heritage site and a marine protected area.
We are currently a completely volunteer based organization and need your support to deploy Atabey.
We are aiming to deploy her on Indigenous People's weekend. It will be an incredible cultural, ecological and engineering feat and we appreciate your contribution to help make this possible. This fundraiser will support the deployment, the base that anchors her down and holds coral transplants, and our restoration efforts when she is in the ocean.
Contact
Ower local liason in the Dominican Republic is Mr. Lucas Guzmán
Océan One , cabarete 57604,
Dominican Republic
TEL. + 1 809 864 8665