11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

23-57
Management And Monitoring For Coral Reef Conservation in One Of The World’s
Busiest Ports
Nigel GOH* 1
1 National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore
Between the founding of modern-day Singapore in 1819 and today, the island nation has
lost an estimated 60% of its coral reef area. Most of this loss may be attributed to
pressures from land-use necessitated by an increasing population and a fast-growing
economy. Nevertheless, high species diversity remains on its coral reefs, with 256
species of scleractinians still extant in Singapore. This number represents more than a
quarter of all hard coral species worldwide, a statistic made more noteworthy as
Singapore’s total land area is only 700km2. In earlier years, conservation of coral reefs
was fortuitous, contrasting with a more intentional approach seen in recent years.
A major pillar of this new approach towards managing the nation’s coral reef natural
heritage involves the setting of strict environmental quality objectives and use of realtime
feedback monitoring processes. These rigorous environmental monitoring and
management plans (EMMP) allow the mitigation of impacts while allowing coastal
development that is often necessary in a land-constrained situation. In Singapore, the
universal problem of having many stakeholders in coastal areas is exacerbated by the
intensity of use brought about by its very limited availability of land and coastal areas.
Besides traditional approaches to coral reef conservation, newer approaches like active
habitat enhancement measures are necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of
coral reefs in the face of these pressures.
This paper describes these measures, as well as the EMMP process in Singapore that
minimizes collateral damage to coral reefs arising from coastal developments, even when
these developments are in close proximity to such reefs.
23-58
Science To Action For Coral Reef Conservation
Sebastian TROENG* 1 , Leah BUNCE 2 , Michael WELLS 3 , Guilherme DUTRA 4 ,
Lindsay GARBUTT 5 , Scott HENDERSON 6 , Loraini SIVO 7
1 Regional Marine Strategies, Conservation International, Arlington, VA, 2 Center for
Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, Arlington, VA, 3 Consultant,
Lier, Norway, 4 Conservation International-Brazil, Salvador, Brazil, 5 Friends of Nature,
Placencia, Belize, 6 Conservation International - Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, Puerto
Ayora, Ecuador, 7 Conservation International - Fiji, Suva, Fiji
A major conservation challenge is how to best use cutting edge science results to inform
effective policies and best practices for coral reef conservation. Conservation
practitioners may not have access to the latest information and researchers may not
always reach key decision-makers with practical and useful science-based
recommendations to inform policy and best practices. Conservation International’s
Marine Management Area (MMA) Science Program, a four-year initiative funded by the
Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, aims to bridge this gap between science and practical
conservation and to simultaneously identify the key factors responsible for influencing
the success of these “Science to Action” (S2A) efforts. The program is currently
supporting over 40 studies on management effectiveness, connectivity, resiliency,
economic and cultural values, conservation incentives and enforcement related to MMAs.
To guide the S2A efforts and to allow for posterior assessment of success, a framework
has been developed that specifies the desired marine conservation outcomes (long-term
goals), outputs (short-term goals), outreach and influencing activities to reach these goals,
and the conditions (e.g. level of participation in research design) that may have
influenced whether or not the research results contributed to achieving the conservation
goals. Science to Action workshops have been held in Belize, Fiji, Brazil and Panama
with the participation of the principal investigators, and with practitioners and decisionmakers
from each of the countries and their broader region to identify the priority
activities and goals. We hypothesize that this participatory approach will ensure that
science results are fed into local decision-making processes and hence increase the
probability of science results informing conservation policy and practice. We anticipate
that this analysis of the S2A component of the Marine Management Area Science
Program will allow us to identify the key success factors for scientists and
conservationists to consider when planning and implementing conservation research
programs.
Oral Mini-Symposium 23: Reef Management
23-59
Making Research Matter: Best Practices And Common Barriers To Applying Research
Findings
Ruth KELTY* 1
1 National Ocean Service, NOAA, Silver Spring, MD
Successful realization of coral reef ecosystem management goals depends on the ability to
transition research and information out of the laboratory and into the hands of decision-makers.
This talk describes best practices for increasing the impact of research investment (as identified
by the U.S. Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel), common barriers to transition, and
coral reef ecosystem cases studies in which those barriers were overcome. Collaboration
between researchers and intended users of the research is essential. The most successful
collaborations are launched early in the process, facilitated by a neutral third party, and engage
the end users in problem formation as well as application development. Consensus documents
presenting the best available science are useful in convincing users that the research/solutions
are accepted. Research funding agencies can help by creating incentives for integrating
application into research programs, fully funding the transition (i.e. development, validation,
and training), and valuing collaboration and transition along with publication. An institutional
culture that values the timely transition of relevant research will contribute to the most effective
use of science in societal decision-making.
23-60
Designing A Resilient Network Of Protected Areas in The Republic Of Palau, Micronesia
Eric VERHEIJ* 1 , Sean AUSTIN 2
1 Micronesia Program, The Nature Conservancy, Koror, Palau, 2 Micronesia Program, The
Nature Conservancy, Koror, Papua New Guinea
In November 2003, the Protected Areas Network (PAN) Act was passed and signed into law.
The PAN Act, which has dual objectives of protecting biodiversity and natural resource
management, provides a framework for Palau’s national and state governments to collaborate to
establish a resilient nationwide network of terrestrial and marine protected areas. As part of the
design process, a number of workshops have been organized to bring together relevant
government institutions, non-government organizations, community representatives, and
individuals. The aim of these workshops was to ensure that decisions related to evaluating and
prioritizing marine and terrestrial biodiversity are based on the most up-to-date and accurate
scientific information available. In May 2006, the PAN Office, supported by the Nature
Conservancy and the Palau International Coral Reef Center, sponsored a series of two
workshops attended by nearly 50 participants from National and State Governments,
communities and non-governmental organizations, to comprehensively review and assess the
latest biodiversity and socio-economic information available for the country. Following this
information/data review, maps and data layers were updated and modeled using MARXAN
software to provide varying design scenarios for Palau’s PAN. These scenarios will serve to
enable decision makers to determine how to effectively protect and manage Palau’s natural
resources. At the end of the second workshop the existing 28 MPAs, of which 26 were
established using the natural resource management objective, were overlaid on the map with the
biodiversity priorities. The result of the overlay was an almost perfect match and therefore
demonstrates that conservation of biodiversity and natural resource management can be
complementary.
210