About Coral guardians
Music + Science = Synergy
CORAL GUARDIANS catalyses community engagement and better coral reef stewardship through integrated science and music events.
Together we can imagine and create a sustainable future for coral reefs and all who depend on them for their well-being.
Why?
Coral reefs are among the richest and most diverse ecosystems on earth, with both physical and social significance. The ecosystem services provided by the reefs include shoreline protection, sheltering commercial fish species, and providing a refuge of biodiversity.
On the social aspect, reefs now support millions of people around the world by providing local people with food or employment and contributing to the local economy through tourist revenues or export. The reefs also provide billions of people around the globe with a source of food. Coral reef loss will therefore not only be detrimental to marine biology, but also to the communities who are dependent on them.
Recent scientific analyses indicate that more than 60% of the world’s coral reefs are under various human induced threats. This includes overfishing, coastal development, pollution, and climate change. Threats against coral reefs are predicted to increase in severity as well as extent. Despite the rising levels of threats, reefs can still be protected and sustainably utilized.
The motivation behind the Coral Guardians project is to promote and support coral reef conservation and management projects around the world.
How?
Education in systems thinking and biodiversity conservation is an important investment in our future and the combination of intuitive and intellectual activities like science and music can increase receptiveness for new information and inspire to solutions oriented thinking. The events by CORAL GUARDIANS provide a narrative arch for local knowledge and initiatives, encouraging and strengthening local seascape stewardship to impact globally. The Coral Guardians methodology is inspired by the learning journeys of professor Anil K. Gupta in his Honeybee Network.
The work done in Coral Guardians acknowledges the importance of:
- Visiting and documenting, raising awareness,
- We are all connected, everything matters
- Students network through international school exchange
- Turning science into practice
- Learning from reef ecology – recycle everything
- Contact in between all social layers from decision-makers, politicians, fishermen and locals.
The first Coral Guardians event was the 2011 Benefit Concert in Stockholm, arranged to support the Danjugan Learning Center in the Philippines. Following the Benefit concert in Stockholm the event “Saving Our Seas” was co-organized with the University of St. La Salle and the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation in 2012. In 2013, CORAL GUARDIANS organized a workshop on Zanzibar with representatives from several marine and environmental organizations as well as local musicians, followed by a CORAL GUARDIANS discussion “salon” at Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden.
During 2014 we lay the research foundation of what would become Coral Symphony for the 13th International Coral Reef Symposium, held in Hawaii 2016. It is inspired by the epic indigenous creation chant Kumulipo that starts “...and born was the Coral polyp...” as the basic unit of Life.
The full Coral Symphony was performed by Kahu Aaron Mahi and Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta in Honolulu on April 1st and 2nd, 2017.
During the Covid-19 pandemic we co-created a long distance music video collaboration from Sweden to the Philippines:
