A reef manager's guide to coral bleaching

Scientists agree that tropical seas will continue to warm over coming decades, increasing both the probability and severity of mass bleaching events8-11. These scenarios pose particular challenges to coral reef managers, not the least because the main cause of mass coral bleaching–anomalously warm sea temperatures–is largely beyond their control.Yet, managers can play a critical role in helping reefs survive the threat of coral bleaching. Managers are in a unique position to increase our understanding of the phenomenon of coral bleaching, to take meaningful action during a bleaching event, and to develop strategies to support the natural resilience of reefs in the face of long-term changes in climate. Because of increasingly strong collaborations between reef managers and scientists, strategies are being developed to directly address the threat of coral bleaching. Management needs and preliminary strategies were first documented in 2000, when the IUCN published Management of Bleached and Severely Damaged Coral Reefs12. In 2002, the US Coral Reef Task Force called for a collaborative effort to identify actions local managers could take to address the impacts of climate change and mass bleaching on coral reefs. In response, three US government agencies (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of the Interior) convened an international workshop entitled 'Coral Reefs, Climate Change and Coral Bleaching' in June 2003. This workshop significantly advanced thinking about the strategies that could support managers in their efforts to respond to coral bleaching

Seeking our shared wisdom: a framework for understanding knowledge coproduction and coproductive capacities

The widespread disconnect between scientific projections of climate change and the implementation of responsive management actions has escalated calls for knowledge production processes able to exercise a stronger voice in decision making. Recently, the concept of coproduction has been championed as a potential answer. The term 'knowledge coproduction' is used loosely in the literature to describe an inclusive, iterative approach to creating new information; it is distinguished by its focus on facilitating interactions between stakeholders to develop an integrated or transformational understanding of a sustainability problem. Whether a coproduction process is successful in this integration of science and policy depends on a range of capabilities that should be understood as 'coproductive capacities.' We draw on the literature from sustainability science to propose a conceptual framework that specifies the sequential goals of knowledge coproduction and potential sources of coproductive capacity. We apply this framework to examine our experience facilitating the coproduction of a climate change action plan for Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and World Heritage Site. This framework offers a structure for systematically investigating the capacities, mechanisms, and dynamics of knowledge coproduction and for guiding the design of coproduction processes

Conflicts between Biodiversity conservation and human activities in the central and eastern European countries

Conflicts between the conservation of biodiversity and other human activities have been and continue to be of increasing concern in the European Union, often having important political, economic, and environmental repercussions. These conflicts have been addressed in the European Union by using a wide array of top down and bottom up tools, with varying degrees of success. A new challenge is now facing Europe with the integration of 10 new countries in the European Union (EU) and an additional range of biodiversity-rich habitats placed under EU legislation. The rich biodiversity of the central and eastern European countries (CEEC) is likely to be threatened by some aspects of the integration process, and conflicts between the conservation of biodiversity and other human activities are expected. In this paper, we review certain existing conflicts between biodiversity conservation and human activities in the CEEC, expected conflicts associated with integration to the EU, particularly in terms of new policy and legislation implementation, and, finally, explore possible conflict management options