Coral reefs

The estimated 500 million people who depend on coral reefs worldwide regularly contend with change. Whether it is the shifting demands of a global marketplace, political upheaval at the national level, shortage of local supplies such as fuel, or fickle weather, the resilience of reefdependent people is often put to the test.

A survey of tourists and tour operators in the Egyptian Red Sea region shows that the industry often misperceives its clients’ environmental sensitivity, putting its own business at risk. Climate change is a growing threat to the tourism industry by making destinations less attractive and jeopardizing major sources of income. The awareness of tourists towards climate change and other environmental issues is likely to be a major driver of their future holiday choices.

This publication documents the devastating effects of hurricanes on coral reefs in the Caribbean in 2005, the hottest year on record. This report catalogues the impacts of the warming and storms during 2005 and 2006. The valuable information in this book underscores that urgent actions are needed to assist reefs in recovery by focusing on natural resistance and resilience as well as removing threats posed by human activities that slow or even prevent recovery from these damaging events.

The need for rapid methodologies for measuring coral reef resilience and their application in assessing the effectiveness of coral reef conservation management measures is becoming increasingly acute, especially in the developing world.