Culture of Peace Initiative

This toolkit addresses the question asked by managers pondering what they can do at the local scale to reduce the impacts of global climate change which are (1) increased sea surface temperatures, (2) increased storm frequency and intensity, (3) acidification of oceans, and (4) altered oceanic currents. Solutions involve both daily management activities and planning for change Uncertainty is what makes our current situation most challenging. However, it is possible to build flexibility and adaptability strategies to respond to unanticipated changes and events.

This module of the Reef Resilience Toolkit focuses on the problem of coral bleaching and actions that managers can take to address this problem, specifically in the context of marine protected areas. Given the scope of global climate change and the recent mass bleaching events that have occurred in every ocean, many managers may assume that there is little that can be done on a local scale. However, there are strategies and approaches that managers can employ to minimize the impacts of bleaching events, as well as build resilience to a variety of other major stressors into the natural systems they manage.

Key Sections of the website include:

• Introduction
• Bleaching Basics
• Identifying Resilience
• Data Gathering
• Resilient MPA Design
• Managing for Resilience
• Communicating Resilience
• Case Studies
• Resource

Video Introducing the Coral Reef Module (3:02)

Twelve Case Studies are detailed in the ToolKit.