How the incentives of participating organizations influence the current scales of coral reef restoration activities

Abstract

Abstract Coral reef restoration activities have increased globally over recent decades in response to the ongoing decline in condition of the worlds' reefs. Current practices of coral reef restoration are now undertaken in most of the tropical regions of the world. However, the scale of individual projects remains small in the context of the scale of threats to reefs. An increasing number of studies have considered the barriers to scaling up projects, but few of these have considered the critical role that participating organizations play in influencing and determining the scale that projects can achieve. An institutional analysis is undertaken here to elucidate these barriers. The primary conclusion from this analysis is that the present mix of organizations undertaking reef restoration activities will likely have to alter as at‐scale approaches are introduced. What this new mix of organizations will look like will be location‐specific and dependent upon for example health and safety, and environmental approvals requirements, and the requirements for funding and operating infrastructure.