Community-based adaptation, in principle, leverages existing local knowledge, capabilities, and priorities.Although there is an increase in adaptation activities in the Pacific region, it remains uncertain whether these are effectively promoting long-term adaptive capacity. Here we evaluate the performance of 32 community-based adaptation initiatives across 20 rural communities in the Pacific Islands. We find that initiative appropriateness was a strength while sustainability was a consistent issue; locally-funded initiatives and those implemented by non-governmental organisations were more likely to perform better; climate-awareness raising initiatives and those integrated with ecosystem-based adaptation performed best. We also identify four interdependent optimization points for future community-based adaptation initiatives: local approval and ownership; shared access to and benefit from initiatives; integration of local realities; and systems-thinking and forward planning. Our analysis suggests a need for a praxis shift whereby adaptation is locally-led, communities drive their own agendas, and donors and implementers become facilitators that resource the diverse capacities of communities.The Pacific Islands are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, despite having contributed little to its causes 1 . With projections showing that island communities will continue to face worsening climate change impacts over the remainder of this century and beyond, understanding what successful adaptation looks like for the Pacific Islands is urgent 2,3 . Significant donor-funded adaptation investment means efforts have already been carried out, with the Pacific receiving the highest per capita climate aid globally 2 , a focus likely to be maintained at least in the short term 3 .With growing understanding of diminishing returns resulting from top-down climate change responses, assistance is increasingly being delivered at the local scale through bottom-up responses such as community-based adaptation (CBA) 4,5 . CBA is an approach that is small-scale, place-based and grassroots driven, while also having synergies with broader development aspirations 6 . In principle, the local scale focus of CBA provides an opportunity for adaptation to better acknowledge and integrate existing local knowledge, capabilities, priorities and context of the community, and for impacts to be addressed at the scale at which they are experienced 7,8 . Effective and sustainable adaptation that fosters reflective engagement with the community (i.e. ideal CBA) 9 , however, is not as straightforward as often implied 10 .Negative impacts can occur if CBA fails to adequately represent vulnerable populations and generate long-term social resilience 11,12 .Despite the increasing number of CBA activities across the Pacific region, uncertainty remains around whether these communities are becoming better prepared to cope in the long-term 13,14 . Bottom-up approaches such as CBA are important in Pacific Islands as they can support and utilize traditional ...

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Fishing and pollution are chronic stressors that can prolong recovery of coral reefs and contribute to ecosystem decline. While this premise is generally accepted, management interventions are complicated because the contributions from individual stressors are difficult to distinguish. The present study examined the extent to which fishing pressure and pollution predicted progress towards the Micronesia Challenge, an international conservation strategy initiated by the political leaders of 6 nations to conserve at least 30% of marine resources by 2020. The analyses were rooted in a defined measure of coral-reef-ecosystem condition, comprised of biological metrics that described functional processes on coral reefs. We report that only 42% of the major reef habitats exceeded the ecosystem-condition threshold established by the Micronesia Challenge. Fishing pressure acting alone on outer reefs, or in combination with pollution in some lagoons, best predicted both the decline and variance in ecosystem condition. High variances among ecosystem-condition scores reflected the large gaps between the best and worst reefs, and suggested that the current scores were unlikely to remain stable through time because of low redundancy. Accounting for the presence of marine protected area (MPA) networks in statistical models did little to improve the models’ predictive capabilities, suggesting limited efficacy of MPAs when grouped together across the region. Yet, localized benefits of MPAs existed and are expected to increase over time. Sensitivity analyses suggested that (i) grazing by large herbivores, (ii) high functional diversity of herbivores, and (iii) high predator biomass were most sensitive to fishing pressure, and were required for high ecosystem-condition scores. Linking comprehensive fisheries management policies with these sensitive metrics, and targeting the management of pollution, will strengthen the Micronesia Challenge and preserve ecosystem services that coral reefs provide to societies in the face of climate change.

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The brown-marbled grouper, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, is a long-lived, late-maturing protogynous species listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. In Pohnpei, Micronesia, reproductively active brown-marbled grouper were tagged with acoustic and spaghetti-type tags at a multi-species fish spawning aggregation (FSA) site to establish patterns of movement, residency and seasonality. Telemetry confirmed the use of common reproductive migratory corridors and significant sex-specific variations in residency at the FSA. Combined underwater visual census and telemetry data verified a 3-month peak aggregation period, with aggregations forming and persisting over ca. 12 days prior to full moon between January and May. FSA formation coincided with seasonally low and relatively stable seawater temperatures. Some males frequented the FSA site during each aggregation month over two consecutive years. Conversely, most females were present at the FSA during only a single aggregation period, with the month of visitation consistent among years. Nearly two-thirds of tagged fish were relocated or recaptured within 11 km of the aggregation site, with a maximum detected distance of 26 km and a minimum estimated catchment area of 100-175 km 2 . Findings highlight the need for a combined approach to management that prohibits the capture and sale of reproductive adults and protects both spawning sites and common reproductive migratory corridors during aggregation periods.