1,744,988 research outputs found
Mapping the global funding landscape for coral reef restoration
No full textCoral reef restoration is increasingly recommended as an active management strategy to address the deterioration of the state and expanse of coral reefs. In 2019, a report from the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)'s Ad-hoc committee on coral restoration revealed that 88% of ICRI* countries are now using coral restoration as a tool to assist the recovery of coral reefs (McLeod et al. 2019). A global review found that coral restoration had been implemented in at least 56 countries as of 2020 (Boström-Einarsson et al. 2020), with most of the projects in low-income or developing nations. Coral reef restoration is now embedded in multilateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and resolutions from the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA Resolution 4/13) and will be part of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Furthermore, through Resolution 73/284 and 72/73, the UN General Assembly has declared the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the UN Decade on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development from 2021 to 2030, both of which will advance the science and practice of coral reef restoration.
However, coral reef restoration is a young field when compared to restoration in terrestrial systems and more traditional reef ecosystem management strategies such as implementing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) or developing fishing quotas. A greater understanding of the context of coral reef restoration projects and their capacity to be used as an effective management strategy to combat the global deterioration of coral reef is needed
Mapping the global funding landscape for coral reef restoration
No full textCoral reef restoration is increasingly recommended as an active management strategy to address the deterioration of the state and expanse of coral reefs. In 2019, a report from the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)'s Ad-hoc committee on coral restoration revealed that 88% of ICRI* countries are now using coral restoration as a tool to assist the recovery of coral reefs (McLeod et al. 2019). A global review found that coral restoration had been implemented in at least 56 countries as of 2020 (Boström-Einarsson et al. 2020), with most of the projects in low-income or developing nations. Coral reef restoration is now embedded in multilateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and resolutions from the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA Resolution 4/13) and will be part of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Furthermore, through Resolution 73/284 and 72/73, the UN General Assembly has declared the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the UN Decade on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development from 2021 to 2030, both of which will advance the science and practice of coral reef restoration.
However, coral reef restoration is a young field when compared to restoration in terrestrial systems and more traditional reef ecosystem management strategies such as implementing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) or developing fishing quotas. A greater understanding of the context of coral reef restoration projects and their capacity to be used as an effective management strategy to combat the global deterioration of coral reef is needed
Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems
Full text linkCoral reefs have emerged as one of the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate variation and change. While the contribution
of a warming climate to the loss of live coral cover has been well documented across large spatial and temporal scales, the
associated effects on fish have not. Here, we respond to recent and repeated calls to assess the importance of local
management in conserving coral reefs in the context of global climate change. Such information is important, as coral reef
fish assemblages are the most species dense vertebrate communities on earth, contributing critical ecosystem functions
and providing crucial ecosystem services to human societies in tropical countries. Our assessment of the impacts of the
1998 mass bleaching event on coral cover, reef structural complexity, and reef associated fishes spans 7 countries, 66 sites
and 26 degrees of latitude in the Indian Ocean. Using Bayesian meta-analysis we show that changes in the size structure,
diversity and trophic composition of the reef fish community have followed coral declines. Although the ocean scale
integrity of these coral reef ecosystems has been lost, it is positive to see the effects are spatially variable at multiple scales,
with impacts and vulnerability affected by geography but not management regime. Existing no-take marine protected areas
still support high biomass of fish, however they had no positive affect on the ecosystem response to large-scale disturbance.
This suggests a need for future conservation and management efforts to identify and protect regional refugia, which should
be integrated into existing management frameworks and combined with policies to improve system-wide resilience to
climate variation and change
Threshold Effects in Coral Reef Fisheries
Full text linkCoral reefs may naturally flip between coral-dominated and algae-dominated states, when species' stocks trespass some threshold levels. This essay uses a stylized model of a coral reef to show how fishing may induce flips towards more algae-dominated states. Threshold effects have consequences for fisheries management, which are analyzed for open access fisheries and sole ownership.Multiple Steady States, Fisheries, Threshold Effects, Coral Reefs, Skiba Points
Connectivity between coastal habitats of two oceanic Caribbean islands as inferred from ontogenetic shifts by coral reef fishes
Full text linkMangroves and seagrass beds are considered important nursery habitats for juveniles of coral reef fishes. Studies have mostly focused on the fish community of just one habitat, so the connectivity between different coastal habitats is often unclear. In this study, density and size of reef fish were determined using a single sampling technique in four non-estuarine bay habitats and four reef zones in Curaçao and Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles). The data indicate that of the complete reef fish community at least 21 species show ontogenetic crossshelf shifts in habitat utilization. The 21 species mainly utilized shallow-water habitats (mangroves, seagrass beds, channel and shallow reef) as nursery habitats and the deeper coral reef zones (\u3e 5 m depth) as adult lifestage habitats. Fish species utilized 1–3 different nursery habitats simultaneously, but habitat utilization clearly differed between species. Previous studies showed that the dependence on these nursery habitats is very high, based on reduced density or absence of adults on coral reefs where these habitats were absent. The strong connectivity between several coastal habitats during the ontogeny of various commercially important reef fish species is evidence for the inclusion of bay habitats within boundaries of fishery reserves or marine protected areas
Planetary Coral Reef Foundation
No full textThe Planetary Coral Reef Foundation was founded in 1991 to address the growing crisis of destruction of coral reefs. Topics include the PCRF's mission, its research activities at sea and in space, wastewater recycling, conservation tips that can help preserve reefs, and the organization's ship, R.V. Heraclitus. Educational levels: High school
Catchment Management and Coral Reef Conservation
No full textThis new release aims to assist coastal resource managers in dealing with the problems arriving at the coast from rivers and streams. To date, there has been no guide book for managers. The stimulus was that many coral reef managers reported on problems of sediment, nutrient, pesticide and litter pollution damaging their reefs and they did not know where to start.
This 112 page book is an ideal training manual for catchment (watershed) management capacity building. It is based on 33 case studies of best practice catchment management from 70 authors and 22 countries from Brazil to Thailand
Caribbean factsheet : Communicating the economic and social importance of coral reefs for Caribbean countries
Full text linkCaribbean fact sheet to communicate the economic and social importance of coral reefs at a country and regional level. Data is provided for coral reef countries in the region and provides easy to read economic and social data for the main ecosystems services provided by coral reefs: coastal protection, fishing, and tourism and highlights their importance in the various countries' GDP. Readers will also find striking sentences that can be used in arguments to inform and convince decision makers
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