Action For Ocean has helped restore more than 8,000 corals across Tanzania’s coastline — transplanted and monitored by certified community divers.
Coral reefs shelter the fish stocks that feed coastal Tanzania and buffer the shoreline from storms. Yet across the Western Indian Ocean, warming seas, destructive fishing, and coastal development have degraded reef systems that took centuries to build. Action For Ocean (AFO) is restoring these reefs not through outside intervention, but by training the people who live beside them to lead the recovery.
Through the Tanzania Dive Lab, AFO trains and PADI-certifies coastal community members — including Tanzania’s first all-women dive team — to build and maintain coral restoration frames. What begins as a training programme becomes a livelihood: certified divers turn degraded reef sites into active restoration zones, monitoring coral health and regrowth over time.
With more than 8,000 corals already restored, coral reef recovery sits at the center of AFO’s broader 2030 target: 20 square kilometres of marine habitat restored, 150 new divers trained, and 25 local innovators equipped with homegrown restoration solutions.
Every reef restored becomes a classroom for resilience.
Coral reef restoration is the active rebuilding of damaged reef ecosystems — typically by attaching healthy coral fragments to structures called restoration frames, where they grow and eventually re-establish natural reef habitat.
AFO has helped restore more than 8,000 corals across Tanzania’s coastline through its community-led, PADI-certified dive teams.
AFO trains and PADI-certifies coastal community members, including Tanzania’s first all-women dive team through the Tanzania Dive Lab, to build and maintain coral restoration frames at degraded reef sites.
Nearly 50% of Tanzania’s coral reefs and mangroves have already been degraded or lost, threatening the fish stocks and coastal protection that millions of people depend on.
Coral restoration contributes to AFO’s broader goal of restoring 20 square kilometres of marine habitat and training 150 new divers by 2030.
