Advancing Coral Reef Governance into the Anthropocene

Morrison, Tiffany H.; Adger, W. Neil; Barnett, Jon; Brown, Katrina; Possingham, Hugh P.; Hughes, Terry P.

doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2019.12.014

Cited by 103 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…A global reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would be the most effective and economically viable long-term strategy to mitigate climate change effects and protect vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs (Bindoff et al, 2019). Restoration efforts may have reduced effects in mitigating climate change impacts globally (Morrison et al, 2020). However, assuming the global community will comply with the GHG emission pathway, this will not suffice to either conserve coral reefs or restore their previous abundance.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Reef Restoration: Next-Generation Techniques for Coral Gardening, Landscaping, and Outreach

et al. 2020

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Anthropogenic disturbances have led to the degradation of coral reef systems globally, calling for proactive and progressive local strategies to manage individual ecosystems. Although restoration strategies such as assisted evolution have recently been proposed to enhance the performance of coral reef populations in response to current and future stressors, scalability of these concepts and implementation in habitat or ecosystemwide management remains a major limitation for logistical and financial reasons. We propose to implement these restoration efforts into an ecotourism approach that embeds land-based coral gardening efforts as architectural landscape elements to enhance and beautify coastal development sites, providing additional value and rationale for ecotourism stakeholders to invest. Our approach extends and complements existing concepts integrating coral reef restoration in ecotourism projects by creating a participatory platform that can be experienced by the public, while effectively integrating numerous restoration techniques, and providing opportunities for long-term restoration and monitoring studies. In this context, we discuss options for pre-selection of corals and systematic, large-scale monitoring of coral genotype performance targeting higher resilience to future stressors. To reduce operating costs during out-planting, we suggest to create coral seeding hubs, clusters of closely transplanted conspecifics, to quickly and efficiently restore/enhance active reproduction. We discuss our land-based coral gardening approach in the context of positive impacts beyond reef restoration. By restoring and strengthening resilience of local populations, we believe this strategy will contribute to a net positive conservation impact, create a culture on restoration and enhance and secure blue economical investments that rely on healthy marine systems.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Reef Restoration: Next-Generation Techniques for Coral Gardening, Landscaping, and Outreach

et al. 2020

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“…1) [127]. Ecosystem governance needs to shift to a new paradigm that embraces rapid change due to the unprecedented global heatwaves from 2014 to 2017 and continued anthropogenic pressures [128].…”

Section: Focused Management Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The suggested themes to improve governance in complex ecosystems are to address proximal and distal drivers, reduce those drivers' levels, and weaken positive feedback responses contributing to degradation [128]. It is also suggested for coral reefs to prioritize areas that demonstrate fewer bleaching signs than predicted by degree heating weeks recorded in that area [129].…”

Section: Focused Management Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The coral conservation crisis: interacting local and global stressors reduce reef resiliency and create challenges for conservation solutions

Good

Bahr

2021

SN Appl. Sci.

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Coral reefs are one of the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems in the world. Humans rely on these coral reef ecosystems to provide significant ecological and economic resources; however, coral reefs are threatened by numerous local and global anthropogenic factors that cause significant environmental change. The interactions of these local and global human impacts may increase the rate of coral reef degradation. For example, there are many local influences (i.e., sedimentation and submarine groundwater discharge) that may exacerbate coral bleaching and mortality. Therefore, researchers and resource managers cannot limit their narratives and actions to mitigating a sole stressor. With the continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions, management strategies and restoration techniques need to account for the scale at which environmental change occurs. This review aims to outline the various local and global anthropogenic stressors threatening reef resiliency and address the recent disagreements surrounding present-day conservation practices. Unfortunately, there is no one solution to preserve and restore all coral reefs. Each coral reef region is challenged by numerous interactive stressors that affect its ecosystem response, recovery, and services in various ways. This review discusses, while global reef degradation occurs, local solutions should be implemented to efficiently protect the coral reef ecosystem services that are valuable to marine and terrestrial environments.

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“…Solutions require innovative thinking and coordination between science, management and policy, and public engagement. There are concerns that restoration and adaptation are distractions from tackling global climate change, the main driver of coral reef decline [112]. Communication and engagement strategies must reinforce the message that restoration and adaptation are a health-care strategy that can only work in tandem with a cure: urgent global action to address climate change.…”

Section: Get People On Boardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to help coral reefs under global change—A complex decision challenge

et al. 2020

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Climate change is impacting coral reefs now. Recent pan-tropical bleaching events driven by unprecedented global heat waves have shifted the playing field for coral reef management and policy. While best-practice conventional management remains essential, it may no longer be enough to sustain coral reefs under continued climate change. Nor will climate change mitigation be sufficient on its own. Committed warming and projected reef decline means solutions must involve a portfolio of mitigation, best-practice conventional management and coordinated restoration and adaptation measures involving new and perhaps radical interventions, including local and regional cooling and shading, assisted coral evolution, assisted gene flow, and measures to support and enhance coral recruitment. We propose that proactive research and development to expand the reef management toolbox fast but safely, combined with expedient trialling of promising interventions is now urgently needed, whatever emissions trajectory the world follows. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of embracing new interventions in a race against time, including their risks and uncertainties. Ultimately, solutions to the climate challenge for coral reefs will require consideration of what society wants, what can be achieved technically and economically, and what opportunities we have for action in a rapidly closing window. Finding solutions that work for coral reefs and people will require exceptional levels of coordination of science, management and policy, and open engagement with society. It will also require compromise, because reefs will change under climate change despite our best interventions. We argue that being clear about society's priorities, and understanding both the opportunities and risks that come with an expanded toolset, can help us make the most of a challenging situation. We offer a conceptual model to help reef managers frame decision problems and objectives, and to guide effective strategy choices in the face of complexity and uncertainty.

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Advancing Coral Reef Governance into the Anthropocene

Cited by 103 publications

References 90 publications

Beyond Reef Restoration: Next-Generation Techniques for Coral Gardening, Landscaping, and Outreach

Beyond Reef Restoration: Next-Generation Techniques for Coral Gardening, Landscaping, and Outreach

The coral conservation crisis: interacting local and global stressors reduce reef resiliency and create challenges for conservation solutions

Interventions to help coral reefs under global change—A complex decision challenge

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