Rasfari Reef was a popular diving and snorkeling site located in the North Malé Atoll, which was a protected area in the Maldives. This area was known for its abundant marine life, including manta ray aggregations, diverse coral reefs, rich biodiversity, and beautiful underwater landscapes. Coral reefs were critical to the Maldives’ economy and coastal resiliency. The Kaafu Atoll Rasfari Reef was significantly damaged when a cargo ship ran aground on the reef in 2021. Coral restoration efforts in the region required enhanced data collection to monitor progress, evaluate options, and measure success.

The proposed pilot program was informed by presentations made at the workshop “Unlocking the Power of Digital Data & Technologies for Climate Resilience,” which was a two-day strategy and learning workshop held to support the deployment of digital data, technologies, and tools for climate action. It was jointly convened by the Maldives Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Technology and the World Bank in 2022.

The proposed pilot aimed to leverage Passive Acoustic Monitoring to inform coral restoration efforts at Rasfari Reef by the Maldives Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The scope of the pilot included planning meetings, development of custom research protocols, on-site and virtual trainings and workshops, on-site assessments, securing equipment, deploying equipment, data collection, data retrieval, data analysis, comparison with an unimpacted reef, and creation of a baseline database and data summary for current and future reference, while building local capacity for ongoing use of passive acoustic monitoring for coral reef restoration and coral reef health monitoring.