Abstract
There is an increasing need to evaluate the links between the social and ecological dimensions of human vulnerability to climate change. We use an empirical case study of 12 coastal communities and associated coral reefs in Kenya to assess and compare five key ecological and social components of the vulnerability of coastal social-ecological systems to temperature induced coral mortality [specifically: 1) environmental exposure; 2) ecological sensitivity; 3) ecological recovery potential; 4) social sensitivity; and 5) social adaptive capacity]. We examined whether ecological components of vulnerability varied between government operated no-take marine reserves, community-based reserves, and openly fished areas. Overall, fished sites were marginally more vulnerable than community-based and government marine reserves. Social sensitivity was indicated by the occupational composition of each community, including the importance of fishing relative to other occupations, as well as the susceptibility of different fishing gears to the effects of coral bleaching on target fish species. Key components of social adaptive capacity varied considerably between the communities. Together, these results show that different communities have relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of social-ecological vulnerability to climate change.
Highlights
Millions of the world’s poorest people depend on the ecosystem goods and services provided by coral reefs [1]
Understanding vulnerability in coral reef fisheries is complicated because there is considerable heterogeneity in: 1) places that experience climate change-related events such as coral bleaching; 2) the ways that coral reef ecosystems are affected by and can recover from these impacts; 3) the ways that societies and individuals are impacted by these changes; and 4) the capacity of people to cope with and adapt to these changes
We described the multivariate relationships among the ecological exposure, ecological sensitivity, and ecological recovery potential indicators of ecological vulnerability using a correlationbased Principal Components Analysis (PCA) on Euclidean distances among indicators
Summary
Millions of the world’s poorest people depend on the ecosystem goods and services provided by coral reefs [1]. The increasing frequency of extreme climatic events can affect fish habitat, productivity, and distribution, as well as impact directly on fishing operations and the physical infrastructure of coastal communities [9] Extreme events such as high-intensity cyclones and increased sea surface temperatures can have profound impacts on coral reef ecosystems and the communities that depend on them [10,11]. Elevated sea temperature events can cause corals to bleach and die This can alter the goods and services that coral reefs provide by changing the species compositions of fish and potentially reducing reef fisheries productivity, and harming reef-dependent people [6,12,13,14,15]. The current era of rapid anthropogenic-driven climate change has the potential to undermine coral-reef associated livelihoods [7]
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