Place‐Based Management Can Reduce Human Impacts on Coral Reefs in a Changing Climate

Abstract

We developed a decision support tool to inform ridge-to-reef management. It allows communities to visualize potential impacts of land use, fishing closures, and climate change on coral reefs. We applied it in two communities located at opposite ends of the Hawaiian archipelago. To perpetuate traditional food systems, both communities have revived place-based marine management. By coupling spatially explicit land-sea models with scenario planning, we identified priority areas on land where management can reduce impacts on coral reefs and targeted fishes. We demonstrate that place-based management, which accounts for land–sea linkages, can minimize human impacts and foster coral reef resilience in a changing climate. This photograph illustrates the article “Place-based management can reduce human impacts on coral reefs in a changing climate” by Jade M. S. Delevaux, Kostantinos A. Stamoulis, Robert Whittier, Stacy D. Jupiter, Leah L. Bremer, Alan Friedlander, Natalie Kurashima, Jonatha Giddens, Kawika B. Winter, Mehana Blaich-Vaughan, Kimberly M. Burnett, Cheryl Geslani, and Tamara Ticktin published in Ecological Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1891