Djibouti mission 2025 Watch the video

The TRSC and its Djiboutian partners have returned from a new field mission in the Gulf of Tadjourah aimed at assessing changes in the health of local coral reefs since 2022.

Conducted in September 2025 in close collaboration with Djibouti’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), the University of Djibouti (UD), and the Djibouti Center for Study and Research (CERD), this new mission led by Dr. Guilhem Banc-Prandi, scientific director of the TRSC, and Djiboutian partners follows an initial mission carried out in 2022 at the same location, specifically around the Mousha and Mascali islands in the middle of the gulf.

More broadly, it is part of the gradual establishment, under the auspices of the TRSC, of an unparalleled network for monitoring coral ecosystems stretching from the north to the south of the Red Sea, based on reliable data collected in a standardized, consistent—and therefore usable—data produced through various programs, in particular 3D mapping using AI developed by Prof. Devis Tuia at EPFL, and environmental DNA programs led by Prof. Loïc Pellissier and Dr. Camille Albouy of ETH Zurich and WildInSynch. These programs are now being gradually implemented in full autonomy by the TRSC’s local partners, who have been properly trained and equipped for the task—in Djibouti, as well as in Jordan, Sudan, Eritrea, and even Yemen.

Comparing the results of the September 2025 mission with those of the 2022 mission will help identify the sites that are most resilient to climate change and better assess the local pressures they face—thereby enabling local stakeholders responsible for conservation policies to determine the necessary actions to be taken.

Thank you to the mission participants and to TRSC’s partners more broadly for their work in Djibouti since 2022:

Mr. Idriss Ismaël Nour (MEDD), Dr. Djama Mohamed Hassan (UD), Dr. Mohamed A-K jalludin (CERD), Dr. Abdourahman Daher (CERD), Dr. Sadat Ibn Kaiss (UD), Dr. Saida Chideh (UD), Dr. Idil Mouhoumed Elmi (UD), Mr. DJAMA GOUMANEH (MEDD), Mr. Mohamed Houssein Farah (MEDD), Dr. Ibrahim SOULEIMAN ABDALLAH (UD), Dr. Rahma Hassan Abdi (UD), Dr. Abdillahi Houssein (UD), Dr. Moustapha NOUR (CERD), Mr. Ahmed Ali (CERD), Mrs. Ariane Fleury (Sovereign Carbon Agency), Prof. Devis Tuia (EPFL/TRSC), Dr. Camille Albouy (ETHZ/WildinSync), Dr. Florian Breider (EPFL), Prof. Loïc Pellissier (ETHZ/WildinSync), Dr. Stéphane Joost (EPFL), Mrs. Manon Pribille (EPFL/TRSC), Dr. Jonathan Sauder (EPFL/TRSC), Mr. Sylvain Coudret (EPFL), Mrs Gabi Perna, Mr. Thomas Ruckli (TRSC), Djibouti’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Djibouti’s Ministry of Higher Education and Research
University of Djibouti, Centre d’Etude et de Recherche de Djibouti, Djibouti Coast-Guards, Dolphin Excursion, Sovereign Carbon Agency, Embassy of Switzerland in Djibouti, Swiss Foreign Ministry