Coral reef science and the new commons

Abstract

We humans have inadvertently triggered the emergence of a new Earth system: a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene (Crutzen 2002; Steffen et al. 2007). It is replacing the Holocene, the epoch in which civilisation evolved. Coral reefs, together with all other ecosystems on the planet, are being swept up in this change. The changes are so complex that they are overwhelming the ability of traditional science to comprehend them, and their consequences are so profound that they demand a new compact between science and society. This compact, we shall argue, is really an old one, but one, nevertheless, that is new to coral reef science. Coral reef science is doomed to irrelevance unless it embraces it. In this view, the issue is not to ‘save’ coral reef ecosystems from humans but to reshape them to survive the Anthropocene together with humans—it is not to conserve species as an end in itself but to retain useful system functions and hence fitness for their joint purpose with humans. This is not to rail against science itself. Coral reefs, like many ecosystems, face an existential crisis, and science is vital to its resolution. But, if there is to be a resolution, it will not be in the way that many reef scientists currently believe. Rather, the solution will be through new science built on an old compact with society. This optimistic compact describes the ‘how and why’ of the application of science to the human condition—engineering in its best and broadest sense. Indeed, we shall argue that the compact needs to drive the creation of a new commons for coral reefs—a closely managed commons that replaces today’s tragedy (Hardin 1968) and actively reshapes coral reefs for the Anthropocene. We suggest that such a commons will restore our science to a healthier place in society. Today, coral reef science may seem to be part of a coral reef industry that sometimes has more to do with ideology than science, and that often places people in opposition to coral reefs. A more relevant coral reef science could foster an optimistic but realistic—an almost Victorian—awareness that coral reefs can be shaped successfully for our beneficial use.