Coastal Protection

Coral reefs serve as natural barriers to storm surges by breaking the destructive power of waves by an average of 97 percent, which help to protect human settlements, infrastructure, and valuable coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests. This form of natural coastal protection accounts for U.S. $9.0 billion of the total U.S. $29.8 billion global net benefit generated from coral reefs.

Across the Coral Triangle Region, about 45 percent of coastlines are protected by coral reefs, with the Philippines accounting for 65 percent of this proportion of protected coastline. The annual net economic benefits of coastline protection by the coral reefs is predicted to be more than U.S. $400 million in value till date.