A network of “reef builders” offers hope to the world’s threatened coral reefs

In late 2021, a youth group on the Indonesian island of Nusa Penida began diving into the waters off their local beach to restore a once-thriving coral reef. Equipped with “Reef Stars”—hexagonal steel structures that serve as underwater scaffolding for growing coral—and with training from a marine conservation non-profit organisation, the young environmentalists sought to build a resilient future for their community and environment, one coral at a time.