Transnational Red Sea Center

The Transnational Red Sea Center is a scientific research center hosted at Ecole Polytechnique fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL). Created with the official support of the Swiss Foreign Ministry, its core mission is to bridge Science & Diplomacy in order to study and preserve the corals of the Red Sea, capitalizing on Switzerland’s neutrality, its longstanding tradition of promoting dialogue and its reputation for scientific excellence. The Red Sea appears to be the last refuge on Earth for corals, reefs of the Red Sea having demonstrated an exceptional resistance to climate change thanks to their unique evolution in the Red Sea system, while corals elsewhere in the world are facing mass extinction due to the rise of sea temperature and other sources of destruction caused by human activity. The ambition of the Center is to unite scientists from the eight littoral countries of the Red Sea and drive collaborations among regional stakeholders, while connecting at the highest political level as well as the civil society to promote preservation policies. In a long term vision, it aims to pave the way for future technological applications potentially enabling to rehabilitate reefs worldwide.