Stocks. Gold. Real estate. These are typical targets for financial professionals seeking a return on investment. But for Dale Galvin, a veteran private equity investor with millions of dollars at his disposal, the next big opportunity isn’t mainstream. It’s coral reefs.

Coral reefs provide food, work and coastal protection for an estimated 1 billion people around the world. They also support economic activity worth trillions of dollars a year, including $36 billion in tourism, according to a study by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. All of that is under threat as high ocean temperatures plunge the world’s corals into crisis. This month, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the second global coral bleaching event in a decade, with bleaching in every major ocean basin across 54 nations and territories. Deprived of nutrition, bleached corals can turn white and die.