70-Year-Old "Mother of Colombian Corals" Leads Coral Restoration Efforts

In 2025, 70-year-old Colombian marine biologist Elvira Alvarado continues her lifelong mission to rescue the country's endangered coral reefs. Alvarado, known as the "mother of Colombian corals," has been diving and researching these vital marine ecosystems for nearly 50 years.

Alvarado's work has become increasingly crucial as diseases, pollution, and rising ocean temperatures have taken a devastating toll on coral reefs. Since the 1970s, more than half of all the coral in the Caribbean have died. Alvarado has witnessed this firsthand, seeing the once-vibrant, garden-like coral reefs turn barren.

To combat this crisis, Alvarado and her team of divers have turned to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to reproduce coral and transplant them to existing reefs. This technique, pioneered by an Australian scientist, involves collecting coral eggs and sperm, fertilizing them in a laboratory, and then placing the hatchlings in seaside nurseries before transplanting them.

Alvarado's efforts have not only focused on restoring the reefs but also on mentoring a new generation of marine biologists, mostly women, to continue her work. "When I started this, we were just three people — two students and me. And look what we've got now," she says. "This will continue even after I'm dead. That's the good thing."

As Alvarado prepares to eventually hang up her swim fins, her legacy as the "mother of Colombian corals" will live on through the scientists she has inspired and the reefs she has helped revive.