UK funds initiative to protect BVI coral reefs
The UK Darwin Plus Initiative has provided funding for a new project to bolster the territory’s capacity to monitor and research coral reefs using advanced imaging technology.
The project is being administered through H. Lavity Stoutt Community College’s (HLSCC) Centre for Applied Marine Studies. The school has received specialised underwater photography equipment, advanced software licenses, online training modules and data storage infrastructure to carry out reef monitoring and research.
Eleven local experts from HLSCC, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources & Climate Change and the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands have been trained — marking a new era of local expertise in reef monitoring using high-resolution mapping and modelling.
“Photogrammetry is a powerful tool for marine conservation,” said Susan Zaluski, HLSCC’s Director of Marine & Maritime Studies. “But it also has broad applications in other fields. As we develop training modules, we hope to attract students not just from marine sciences, but also from areas like computer science—disciplines that the public may not immediately associate with marine conservation.”
With this new initiative, HLSCC and its partners said they believe they’re not only contributing vital data for reef management but also redefining how the BVI trains the next generation of marine professionals—blending technology, education, and conservation to ensure the territory’s marine biodiversity thrives for decades to come.
The Caribbean region is home to approximately 10 percent of the world’s coral reefs, which are facing serious threats like overfishing, pollution, and coastal development, as well as the impacts of climate change.
Copyright 2025 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
Though reefs are critically important children minds are also in danger and needs protection.
Indeed, when was the last time UK contributed to or built a school in the territory?
When was the last time the UK built a prison, helped expand the economy or helped financed a road rejuvenation project??
the roads and schools are of no future benfit for them..so they have no reason to fund them.. but the waters and sealife and the possible resources below the seb is of great value to them so they will quicly fund projects that they can use to gather data regarding those resources
to stop FOREVER all these coastal land fills that smother the BVI’s coral reefs.
WE SCTING LIKE BIG BOYZ , AND YET YOU ( MR VERY NICE ( WANTS THE UK TO BREAST FEED US ? IS THSF ONE OF YOUR LAME EXCUSES ? WITH ALL THE MONEY WE ARE SQUANDERING DAILY IF WE WERE INDEPENDENT , WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO POINT YOUR DIRTY FINGER AT ? IF THESE WANNABE ARISTOCRAT’S WERE INVESTING THE TAXPAYERS MONEY I TO THE COUNTRY – IT WOULD BE FOR US – THE PEOPLE , NOT FOR THE UK , DO YOU SEE HOW DUMB & STUPID YOU ARE SOUNDING ??? – WHAT TYPE OF ILLEGAL DRUGS ARE
YOU ON ? ( IT SEEMS TO BE CAUSING PARANOIA , SEEK MEDICAL HELP BEFORE YOU IMPLODE