Last week, Ocean Revive attended the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) 2025 — one of the world's largest and most influential gatherings dedicated to nature and sustainability.
Held every four years, the WCC serves as a global forum where governments, scientists, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples' organisations and businesses come together to set priorities for conservation and sustainable development. This year's congress in Abu Dhabi brought together over 10,000 attendees united by a shared mission: to safeguard ecosystems and accelerate the transition to a nature-positive future.
Eco-Tourism & Eco-Entertainment: Protection of Natural Coral Reefs and Nurseries
In this session, our Co-Founder and CEO, Dr Sebastian Schmidt-Roach, joined Marie Laure Boulton, Co-Founder of Ocean Attitude, with moderation by Dr Vanessa Robitzch, Conservation Program Manager at SHAMS. The discussion centred on how marine recreation activities can be transformed into powerful levers for reef protection and regeneration.
Reef Renaissance: Scaling Coral Restoration Through Innovation, Hospitality & Urban Regeneration
Our second panel brought together Ocean Revive's CEO with Barbara Lang Lenton, Director of Jumeirah Burj Al Arab Aquariums and the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project, and Ryan Paik, CEO of HaejooX. This session explored how collaboration between hospitality and BlueTech companies can create new pathways for ocean regeneration and a replicable model for large-scale reef restoration at the intersection of technology and tourism.
Looking Ahead
For Ocean Revive, participating in this dialogue reinforced the importance of embedding coral restoration into broader sustainability agendas. We return from the Congress inspired and energised, ready to continue advancing our Reef Estate™ model and forging partnerships that make large-scale reef regeneration a reality.
We invite partners, innovators, and ocean advocates to join us — connect with us to explore how we can regenerate reefs together.