Most of the world’s coral reefs, and the communities that directly depend on them, are in the tropics, so one might imagine the research on them being led by scientists and institutions based in tropical countries. The reality, however, is far different, a new study shows.

Coral reef science is actually dominated by researchers from afar, the study found. They come mainly from institutions in high-income countries, and the contributions of researchers from tropical, lower-income nations aren’t adequately recognized. “Parachute” research that leaves out local input is common, and when more local researchers are included, it’s often perceived as being done in a tokenistic way, according to the study, which was published in NPJ Ocean Sustainability on April 24.

Lead author Cassandra Roch, a marine scientist at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, said the same communities that face the most direct impacts from the demise of coral reefs are left out of the scientific study of reefs.

“They’re the ones that are facing the harshest consequences from it,” she told Mongabay.

Roch pointed to “the inequity of the whole situation,” with scientists from “countries that are not contributing highly to emissions being excluded or marginalized from the research landscape.” Global coverage of living coral reefs has declined by half since the 1950s, due in part to climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.

Roch’s work follows on other studies that describe inequities in marine science research and specifically in the field of coral reefs. A 2021 paper in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science found systemic biases in coral reef research due to the relative exclusion of researchers from the Global South and of women.

“If you’re a female in the Global South, you’re at a much greater disadvantage,” Gabby Ahmadia, a vice president and ocean specialist at WWF-US and the 2021 paper’s lead author, told Mongabay.

A 2023 commentary in NPJ Ocean Sustainability called on the research and conservation community to “center equity in ocean governance,” decolonize related research and empower the “tropical majority,” that is, ocean-dependent people in low- and middle-income countries of the tropics.

The new study, which Roch authored with a diverse team of scientists, many of whom are based in tropical countries in the Global South, featured two components: an analysis of the authorship of more than 5,000 scientific papers in the field and a survey of more than 100 researchers and stakeholders in coral reef projects.

The authorship analysis revealed that the lead author of 76% of the papers, most of which were in the natural sciences, were from institutions in high-income countries. The United States and Australia were by far the most frequently represented. Twenty-four percent of the first authors were from middle-income countries, and less than .05% were from low-income countries.

To assess participation in coral reef fieldwork, Roch and co-authors randomly chose 400 of the papers, 230 of which ended up involving fieldwork. Of that subset of 230, about 20% involved teams of researchers who were all based outside the host country, “pointing to a prevalence of parachute science practices,” the study says. About 40% of the research teams were all local, while about 40% involved collaborations between host country and foreign researchers.

The authorship analysis broadly mirrored the findings from Ahmadia’s 2021 study and another 2021 paper in the journal Current Biology on parachute research in marine science. One of the add-ons of the new study was the inclusion of the survey. Respondents from middle-income countries were far likelier than respondents from high-income countries to have witnessed parachute science and report that their contributions to international collaborations weren’t adequately recognized. (There were no respondents from low-income countries.)

This fit with the authors’ expectations. Co-author Joshua Wambugu, a social scientist based at both Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands and Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean, an NGO in Kenya, said Global South researchers aren’t included in key stages of studies’ design and completion — that their expertise is not recognized.

“Your role seems to be in the field,” he told Mongabay. “It is only valued at the lower level, whereby you are the one creating the network, making sure that whatever is needed in the field is there,” he said.

“I have been one of them,” he added.

Estradivari (who goes by one name), a marine researcher at Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research in Germany and a co-author of the 2023 commentary, praised the new study, which she wasn’t involved with, and echoed Wambugu’s remarks.

“It captures not just the data behind inequities in coral reef science, but also the lived experiences of researchers, especially those from the Global South,” she told Mongabay in an email. “As someone from Indonesia who has personally experienced parachute science and tokenism, I found the findings very relatable.”

“As an Indonesian scientist working in one of the world’s most important coral reef regions, I’ve often seen foreign researchers come in, collect data, publish papers, and leave, without involving local scientists in a meaningful way,” she said. “I’ve also been added to projects late in the process, just to ‘tick the local collaborator box,’ with no real opportunity to shape the research questions or be part of the analysis and authorship. It’s frustrating, but more than that, it’s disempowering.”

Wambugu and Estradivari both told Mongabay that traditional and local knowledge needs to be more highly valued, and leaving it out makes research weaker.

Estradivari said local scientists and stakeholders “have deep ecological knowledge, cultural context, and strong relationships with decision-makers and community members. We know the reefs, the histories, the social dynamics. When local scientists are excluded or undervalued, we lose out on insights that are essential for real-world impact.”

Researchers from the Global North sometimes patronizingly assume they’re helping host country researchers even when they’re having them do laborious data collection work, Roch said.

“It’s like, ‘oh, we are helping you,’” she said. “‘We are building your capacity.’”

The study recommends a series of reforms to multiple aspects of the scientific process. Roch said research-funding practices are the most important, based on survey responses. “It’s funding, funding, funding, funding,” she said. She and her co-authors suggest that funders should ask grant applicants to submit “equitable collaboration statements” for international projects, encourage study co-design with local researchers and reduce administrative burdens in the early application stages so a more diverse set of researchers can apply.

The study also emphasizes the importance of change among publishing agencies: Scientific journals should waive publishing fees for researchers from Global South countries, make language accommodations and diversify their editorial boards and peer-review positions, it says.

Roch and Ahmadia, who wasn’t involved with the new study, both emphasized the need for better training on international collaborations at universities in the Global North. Roch said she was trained in high-income countries where research equity wasn’t even part of the discussion. Ahmadia expressed hope that a “generational shift” could be underway but said equity still isn’t being taught enough, and she is often “shocked” at some of the things she sees when working with university researchers.

“I’m like, ‘no, no, no, we can’t do that,’” Ahmadia said. “And so sometimes you’re educating university researchers on how to engage properly with local researchers.”

“There’s a lack of awareness,” she added.

Estradivari said the authors’ recommendations were “thoughtful and well targeted” and that she would add the need for “long-term, locally led research infrastructure.”

“Local leadership isn’t just about being included; it’s about being empowered to set research agendas, define impact, and lead solutions,” she said.

Banner image: A scientist studying coral reefs in Virgin Islands National Park on the island of St. John, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Image by the U.S. National Park Service Climate Change Response Program via Flickr. (Public domain).

Scientists warn coral restoration can’t keep pace with global reef collapse

Citations:

Roch, C., Klein, S. G., Angulo-Preckler, C., Hutahaean, A. A., Wambugu, J., Yranzo-Duque, A., … Duarte, C. M. (2025). Towards inclusive global collaborations in coral reef science. npj Ocean Sustainability, 4(1). doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00120-x

Eddy, T. D., Lam, V. W., Reygondeau, G., Cisneros-Montemayor, A. M., Greer, K., Palomares, M. L., … Cheung, W. W. (2021). Global decline in capacity of coral reefs to provide ecosystem services. One Earth, 4(9), 1278-1285. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2021.08.016

Ahmadia, G. N., Cheng, S. H., Andradi-Brown, D. A., Baez, S. K., Barnes, M. D., Bennett, N. J., … Wosu, A. (2021). Limited progress in improving gender and geographic representation in coral reef science. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8. doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.731037

Spalding, A. K., Grorud-Colvert, K., Allison, E. H., Amon, D. J., Collin, R., De Vos, A., … Thurber, R. V. (2023). Engaging the tropical majority to make ocean governance and science more equitable and effective. npj Ocean Sustainability, 2(1). doi:10.1038/s44183-023-00015-9

Stefanoudis, P. V., Licuanan, W. Y., Morrison, T. H., Talma, S., Veitayaki, J., & Woodall, L. C. (2021). Turning the tide of parachute science. Current Biology, 31(4), R184-R185. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.029

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