Miami, Feb 26 (EFE).- An ambitious program to restore seven coral reefs in the Florida Keys has received a $3.5 million donation from the United Arab Emirates, the non-governmental United Way organization, which will administer the funds, announced on Wednesday.
The United Way chapter in Florida’s Collier County and in the Keys said in a statement that the donation will be used for the 20-year “Mission: Iconic Reefs” program and is “one of the largest investments in reef restoration anywhere in the world.”
The program, the cost of which is pegged at $97 million, was launched in late 2019 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other national, state and local entities and focuses on the Carysford, Horseshoe, Cheeca Rocks, Sombrero, Newfound Harbor, Looe Key and Eastern Dry Rocks coral reefs.
The statement said that the majority of the funds coming from the UAE will be made available through the United Way to local organizations and will be used to carry out the restoration work.
Florida has the third-largest coral reef system in the world, some six kilometers (3.75 miles) wide and 170 km (105 mi.) long. Only the Australian reef system and the Belizean reefs are larger.
In addition to the impact on the reefs of global warming and pollution of the oceans, since 2014 a bacterial infection has been destroying the coral organisms that create the reefs, resulting in the disintegration of the solid structure that is their skeleton and dispersing it in the water.
The disease, which spread rapidly along the Florida reef barrier, the westernmost part of which is the Keys, and which has also affected coral in the Caribbean, now is being combatted by repopulating the reefs with corals of the species most resistant to the bacteria. These coral samples are specially raised on “farms” and then transplanted onto the reefs.
The UAE donation is part of a $10 million package that the Persian Gulf nation granted to the state of Florida to help with recovery efforts after Hurricane Irma, which in 2017 lashed the west Florida coast and the Keys, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
“This is what friends do for each other in times of need,” said UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef al Otaiba. “The UAE is delighted to be able to help the Florida Keys community in this special way and begin to restore its iconic coral reefs. We share the same planet and face the same challenges.”
The United Way will supervise, administer and distribute the UAE funds as part of its work to help restore the damage done by Irma, damage that not only affected the coral but also the financial stability of the Keys community.
Complementary donations of $700,000, also from the UAE, will be used to promote international exchange on climate and to provide educational opportunities to young people from the local community.
According to the United Way, the coral creates tourist and leisure activities that bring in $4.7 billion each year and 60 percent of the Keys population works at jobs linked to those activities.
Steve Sanderson, the president and CEO of the United Way chapter in Collier County and the Keys, said that the donation will help foster “a real transformation” and will help local families who depend on marine activities and the coral for their livelihoods.
