Reefs are in trouble

Coral reefs and their societal benefits are in decline, chiefly due to overfishing, pollution and inappropriate coastal development. Strengthened management is possible, but collective failure to build the needed political will to act diminishes lives of millions of people along tropical coasts. Political will can be built, but it requires committed leadership and sustained investment of time and resources. Accepting failure as inevitable is inappropriate.

The ‘decline’ includes loss of diversity and biomass of fish and other organisms, greater incidence of disease, and marked loss of spatial dominance of living corals. Percentage cover of corals has fallen on average by 51% across the Great Barrier Reef in the 27 years to 2012 (De’ath et al. Reference De’ath, Fabricius, Sweatman and Puotinen2012), and by 47% across the Caribbean over the same general period (Jackson et al. Reference Jackson, Donovan, Cramer and Lam2014). Comparable declines are reported in less well-documented regions (Chin et al. Reference Chin, Loma, Reytar, Planes, Gerhardt, Clua, Burke and Wilkinson2011; Wilkinson Reference Wilkinson2008). Putative causes, and temporal patterns of decline, vary among locations.

Reefs can be damaged by storms, by low salinity following heavy rain, or by tectonic events that elevate, drown or bury them (Glynn Reference Glynn and Birkeland1997), but most commonly they degrade through overfishing, pollution, or the sedimentation and disruptions to water flow caused by poorly planned coastal development (Sale Reference Sale2008). Diseases (Jackson et al. Reference Jackson, Donovan, Cramer and Lam2014), and outbreaks of Acanthaster starfish (De’ath et al. Reference De’ath, Fabricius, Sweatman and Puotinen2012) are important causes of coral mortality in some locations; both appear to be facilitated by pollution. Extractive activities other than fishing, such as use of reef rock in construction, are occasionally a factor. All these problems can be tackled locally.

Our CO₂ emissions have added to stress on coral reefs (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. Reference Hoegh-Guldberg, Mumby, Hooten, Steneck, Greenfield, Gomez, Harvell, Sale, Edwards, Caldeira, Knowlton, Eakin, Iglesias-Prieto, Muthiga, Bradbury, Dubi and Hatziolos2007; Pandolfi et al. Reference Pandolfi, Connolly, Marshall and Cohen2011). Episodes of warmer rthan usual water cause mass coral bleaching; a process in which stressed corals expel their symbiotic dinoflagellates. Recovery from bleaching is possible, but extended periods under stress result in significant mortality, and corals have only limited capacity to acclimate as temperatures rise (Rodolfo-Metalpa et al. Reference Rodolfo-Metalpa, Hoogenboom, Rottier, Ramos-Espla, Baker, Fine and Ferrier-Pagès2014). CO₂ emissions also reduce ocean pH, which affects calcification rates, usually reducing skeletal density and/or growth rates in corals (D’Olivo et al. Reference D’Olivo, McCulloch and Judd2013; Tanzil et al. Reference Tanzil, Brown, Dunne, Lee, Kaandorp and Todd2013; but see Doney et al. Reference Doney, Fabry, Feely and Kleypas2009). Both impacts of CO₂ emissions will intensify in coming decades as temperatures rise and pH falls further (Cunning & Baker Reference Cunning and Baker2012), leading to profound alterations in composition of reef communities (Dove et al. Reference Dove, Kline, Pantos, Angly, Tyson and Hoegh-Guldberg2013).

Reported rates of reef decline, lack of progress in reducing locally caused stresses, and anticipated effects of future CO₂-driven warming and acidification suggest that reefs could lose all coral cover by mid-century (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. Reference Hoegh-Guldberg, Mumby, Hooten, Steneck, Greenfield, Gomez, Harvell, Sale, Edwards, Caldeira, Knowlton, Eakin, Iglesias-Prieto, Muthiga, Bradbury, Dubi and Hatziolos2007; Sale Reference Sale2011). Bradbury (Reference Bradbury2012) admonished the science community for failing to communicate the true risk to reefs, referring to a ‘state of denial’ shared by leading reef scientists, and a widespread attitude in that community emphasizing a need to ‘continue to give people hope’ rather than report ‘doom and gloom’. His article elicited plenty of criticism, including claims that he was exaggerating the seriousness of the problem.

Solving the problem: not rocket science

The widespread degradation of coral reefs has been well reported, and the message has been communicated to coastal communities over many years. The value of ‘healthy’ coral reefs is widely recognized, including aesthetic, cultural and biodiversity value, as well as the economic value of fisheries, other products and tourism (Brander et al. Reference Brander, Beukering and Cesar2007). The possible solutions to local anthropogenic stresses are technically simple, and if implemented will substantially alleviate locally caused damage, making reefs better able to resist warming (Wooldridge Reference Wooldridge2009), and perhaps acidification. Implementation requires real change to human behaviour that can be challenging, but is not impossible, even in impoverished communities dependent on nearby reefs for food. The growing success in the Philippines of networks of small locally-managed marine protected areas (MPAs) as a conservation and fisheries management tool confirms this (Horigue et al. Reference Horigue, Aliño, White and Pressey2012).

These solutions are:

• • reduce fishing effort and eliminate methods that damage reef environment, protect nursery habitats including sea grass and mangroves, reduce harvest of herbivorous species to keep algal growth controlled;

• • reduce pollution of coastal waters by implementing appropriate sewage treatment, curtailing use of fertilizers, and employing best agricultural practices for water and soil management;

• • manage coastal development to minimize sedimentation and turbidity by curtailing dredge and fill operations, planning any alterations to waterways to ensure nearby reefs are not impacted, and avoiding direct burial or destruction of living reefs.

While some communities, and some individuals, may not yet understand the many causes of coral reef decline, or the solutions for local stresses, factual stories about effective reef management permeate coastal communities, and continue to be delivered by local and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments, and multinational development agencies.

A lack of political will

Acting on these stories has yielded good news; the Cabo Pulmo National Park, México (Aburto-Oropeza et al. Reference Aburto-Oropeza, Erisman, Galland, Mascareñas-Osorio, Sala and Ezcurra2011), The Healthy Reefs Initiative on the Mesoamerican Reef (McField & Kramer Reference McField and Kramer2006), and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (McCook et al. Reference McCook, Ayling, Cappo, Choat, Evans, De Freitas, Heupel, Hughes, Jones, Mapstone, Marsh, Mills, Molloy, Pitcher, Pressey, Russ, Sutton, Sweatman, Tobin, Wachenfeld and Williamson2010) are three examples, vastly different in scale, of demonstrable management effectiveness. Yet, the great majority of coral reef habitat continues to degrade. Everyone may know the stories, but many fail to apply them (White et al. Reference White, Christie, D’Agnes, Lowry and Milne2005). This weak performance by coastal communities and by aid agencies, is often rationalized by the observation that many communities lack political will.

As an example of lack of will, consider paper parks, namely MPAs that exist in law, but are not actually protected. The solution to a paper park is to introduce sustained on-the-ground management that reduces extractive activities. Kelleher et al. (Reference Kelleher, Bleakley and Wells1995) reported that the operators of just 31% of the 1306 MPAs in their global survey believed they were achieving their management objectives. Edgar et al. (Reference Edgar, Stuart-Smith, Willis, Kininmonth, Baker, Banks, Barrett, Becerro, Bernard, Berkhout, Buxton, Campbell, Cooper, Davey, Edgar, Försterra, Galván, Irigoyen, Kushner, Moura, Parnell, Shears, Soler, Strain and Thomson2014) showed little had changed in 19 years. Some of the large, EEZ-sized MPAs now being formed will likely become paper parks, as will many tiny MPAs set up by communities that fail to sustain them (Graham & McClanahan Reference Graham and McClanahan2013).

While the approaches available to remedy locally caused reef decline are technically mostly rather simple, even inexpensive, they force us to confront aspects of human behaviour that can be difficult to change (Christie et al. Reference Christie, Lowry, White, Oracion, Sievanen, Pomeroy, Pollnac, Patlis and Eisma2005; McClanahan et al. Reference McClanahan, Cinner, Graham, Daw, Maina, Stead, Wamukota, Brown, Venus and Polunin2009; Gutiérrez et al. Reference Gutiérrez, Hilborn and Defeo2011). By modestly degrading the reef environment in various ways, individuals are able to feed their families fish, grow bountiful crops, and (for entrepreneurs) develop new money-making coastal enterprises. With costs externalized as environmental degradation, these strategies yield personal success and are resistant to being altered. A community wishing to improve reef management must apply sufficient pressure to force change in behaviour that is counter to the best short-term personal interests of individuals, and may also need to provide alternative food and employment.

Building political will: the only real way to restore coral reefs

The reef science community invests considerable effort into attempts to help improve reef management. The resulting transfer of new science into management, at least at the level of discussion and planning, is substantial. As witness, reef connectivity principles have become quickly incorporated into the theory of marine spatial planning (McCook et al. Reference McCook, Almany, Berumen, Day, Green, Jones, Leis, Planes, Russ, Sale and Thorrold2009) to build effective MPA networks, although examples of this science affecting on-the-ground reef management are far fewer (McCook et al. Reference McCook, Ayling, Cappo, Choat, Evans, De Freitas, Heupel, Hughes, Jones, Mapstone, Marsh, Mills, Molloy, Pitcher, Pressey, Russ, Sutton, Sweatman, Tobin, Wachenfeld and Williamson2010). I suggest reef scientists could do more to push ideas beyond theory to practice; managers also have a responsibility to become scientifically informed. However, I think both scientists and managers use absence of political will both as a talisman to excuse failure, and as a justification for continued failure. It is instead an urgent call from the real world of coastal communities to develop new, more effective strategies to effect management change.

Building political will takes courage and it does not happen by itself (Christie et al. Reference Christie, Lowry, White, Oracion, Sievanen, Pomeroy, Pollnac, Patlis and Eisma2005, Reference Christie, Pollnac, Fluharty, Hixon, Lowry, Mahon, Pietri, Tissot, White, Armada and Eisma-Osorio2009). In my view, individuals first must recognize that political will is an amalgam including managers with adequate financial, technical and administrative capacity over sufficient periods of time, a political agenda with space for environmental issues, leadership in government and the community, manageable levels of corruption, and an environmentally well-informed community giving strong support for management actions. All these are necessary, and can be built when absent, but that requires consistent effort over time (Sale et al. Reference Sale, Agardy, Ainsworth, Feist, Bell, Christie, Hoegh-Guldberg, Mumby, Feary, Saunders, Daw, Foale, Levin, Lindeman, Lorenzen, Pomeroy, Allison, Bradbury, Corrin, Edwards, Obura, Sadovy de Mitcheson, Samoily and Sheppard2014). That effort begins with three primary requisites. Committed leadership must be built first if not already present. Also essential are informed outreach and education, and tangible demonstration of positive results.

Coda

Real improvements in management of coral reefs will only result if sufficient effort is invested, if the degree of engagement with the community is deep, and if the time frame for results is set to decades, rather than just three to five years. Far too many projects to build sustainable management fail in one, and often all three of these ways. Helping people do a better job of managing the local stressors on their coral reefs is a worthwhile goal, even in the face of climate change, because of the added resilience that improved management will bring. Failing to take the task of improving management seriously enough to do it properly just wastes time, money, and the good will of the community. At present, while there are many dedicated front-line workers doing their best with limited funds or support on a task they really believe in, there are too many more senior members of the international multinational and NGO community comfortably going to conferences, talking to colleagues, setting up projects, getting them funded, and implementing them in well-worn ways that are almost guaranteed to fail.