Abstract
This research focuses on a literature review, supplemented by fieldwork to retrieve gray literature on ecological repair techniques for tropical coral environments in the Indian Ocean (OI). A total of 62 articles with sufficient data were identified and 16 metrics for assessing project effectiveness were identified. Six of these were mobilized for an MCA to provide an analysis of the profiles of ecological repair projects in the IO and to critique the evaluation methods used: (1) geographic area, (2) ecosystem condition prior to the repair project, (3) causes of degradation, (4) ecological repair objective, (5) technical type, and (6) length of time projects were monitored.On the basis of these results, 3 categories of effectiveness criteria were proposed and discussed to improve these evaluations: (1) means and engineering tools implemented, (2) resilience of the repaired environments and (3) social dimension. On this last point, faced with the lack of data, we discuss the interest of a socio-ecological approach, in the still new scientific field that is ecological repair.