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Join the Coral Reef Alliance, ICRI, and hundreds of organizations and individuals for the 3rd annual Coral Bleaching Awareness Month

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What is Coral Bleaching Awareness Month?

Every November, organizations, conservationists, and ocean lovers unite to raise awareness about coral bleaching.

When coral reefs bleach, they lose the tiny organisms that give them life and color. It’s a warning sign, triggered by polluted water, disease, overfishing, and rising ocean temperatures, that the reef is under stress.

The truth is simple: we can’t survive without coral reefs. Coral bleaching is the ocean’s cry for help, and the time to act is NOW.

Keep scrolling to learn what coral bleaching means, how you can make a difference, and how to help us spread the word. Together, we can inspire dive shops and tour operators, reduce ocean pollution, shape better policies, and support proven, lasting solutions for coral reefs around the world.

Thank you for joining us for the third annual Coral Bleaching Awareness Month 🪸

Learn About Coral Bleaching

Photo by Valentina Cucchiara - Puerto-Morelos-Limones

Coral Bleaching: Toolkit & Comprehensive Guide

In 2023, the Coral Reef Alliance released this guide to bring together global insights on coral bleaching. It includes an overview of bleaching causes, monitoring tools, a checklist for dive shops and tour operators, and a look at what the future may hold for reefs. This guide also launched the first Coral Bleaching Awareness Month.
See the Guide
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Coral Bleaching Hub

The Coral Bleaching Hub from ICRI is a central resource offering guides, tools, and the latest global data on coral bleaching. Stay up to date on current events, learn how communities and reef managers are responding, and explore ways to support coral reef resilience worldwide.
Explore the Hub
Photo by Kellon Spencer

Read About the 4th Global Bleaching Event and Policy in Action

Explore the abstract on the 4th Global Bleaching Event to understand how this ongoing crisis is affecting coral reef ecosystems globally. You can also follow key policy recommendations and actions supporting coral reefs on ICRI’s Policy page. 

Get Involved in Other Ways

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Share the Coral Bleaching Checklist with Managers and Dive Operators

Does your local dive shop have this checklist? Detailing what to do before, during, and after a bleaching event, these action items make a world of a difference for corals under heat stress.

Download the PDF

Double Check Your Sunscreen

14,000 tons of sunscreen enters the ocean every year.

Unfortunately, labels like "reef-safe" or "reef-friendly" aren't regulated, so it's up to each of us to make sure we're doing right by the ocean with each bottle we purchase.

Click below to read our recommendations for (and reasonings behind) choosing reef-safe sunscreen. One of our personal favorites is Project Reef 🪸

Read the Article
Project Reef Suncare

Help Us Bring Color Back to Coral Reefs

Most Importantly, Spread the Word

Get active online by following CORAL and ICRI, bleaching your profile picture or logo, sharing our posts, and creating your own content for coral reefs.

Don't forget to use the hashtags #ForCoral and #CBAM, link to coralbleaching.com, and use "Life is better in color."

Bleach Your Logo With Us for the Month of November

All month long, our alliance is bleaching their logos in solidarity for coral reef conservation and in honor of Coral Bleaching Awareness month.

(Need help bleaching your logo? Email us a vector version at communications@coral.org, and we'll take care of it!)

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Because if Reefs Go, WE Go

We know that local interventions are effective. CORAL scientists and partners are witnessing severe bleaching of 90-100% of corals in areas with poor water quality as opposed to 60-70% in regions where we have implemented strategies to ensure reefs have clean water to thrive.

Coral Bleaching - Photo by Valentina Cucchiara - CORAL
Coral Bleaching - Photo by Valentina Cucchiara - CORAL
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