Abstract
Coral reefs are vital social-ecological systems, but highly vulnerable to global change and local stressors. While conveying the urgency of existential threats is paramount, bleak outlooks can become self-reinforcing, limiting capacities to act. To counter this, experts working on coral reefs in diverse geographies imagined coral reef futures through a structured visioning process. The resulting visions offer alternatives aspiring to desirability, sustainability, and equity for coral reefs. These broaden the conversation on coral reef futures, enabling discussions beyond siloed conservation, traditional management tools, or pure techno-fixes. Concepts such as earth stewardship, biocultural revitalization, and anticipatory governance emerged as essential to sustaining human well-being and enabling the viability of future coral reef ecosystems before, during, and beyond social-ecological shocks. By fostering forward-thinking dialog, these visions and narratives constitute key stepping stones to reimagining desirable relationships between people and coral reefs and speak to both anticipatory and adaptive pathways toward desired change.
Data availability
Data is provided within the manuscript or Supplementary Material files.
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Acknowledgements
The research was funded by Laboratoire d’Excellence CORAIL (SYNERGY project) and partly by the Future Ecosystems for African Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand in conjunction with Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation. The art-science collaboration to bring envisioned futures for coral reefs to life was supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society in a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
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I.G., J.C., and L.P. conceptualized and designed the study. I.G., J.C., V.B., and L.P. facilitated workshops and developed the first draft of the manuscript. G.N.A., N.C.B., T.B., E.S.D., D.G., G.G.G., J-B.J., S.D.J., M.K., R.S., R.A.T., J.W., R.A.M., J.B., T.C., J.S.G., A.M., and A.V.N. contributed to writing and reviewing the manuscript. I.G., K.Y.T., A.M., and L.P. developed the full storylines with input from all authors. K.Y.T. created the artworks displayed in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. J.C. and L.P. funded the study. All authors participated in in-person and online workshops, reviewed, and approved the submitted version.
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Gianelli, I., Pereira, L.M., Brun, V. et al. Reimagining coral reef futures.
npj Ocean Sustain (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00179-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00179-6
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