Reef Resilience Review August 2009

Bonaire Resilience Training Marks Beginning of New Effort to Build Capacity and Strengthen the Resilience Practitioners Network

Spotlight on Palau

NOAA Predicts Bleaching Event in Caribbean

Coral Reef Job Announcements!

Looking Ahead

Recent Pubs & Resources

To join the network or submit updates, contact:
Stephanie Wear,
The Nature Conservancy, Global Marine Initiative
resilience@tnc.org

For more information about The Nature Conservancy's Global Marine Initiative, visit: www.nature.org/marine

This newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

August, 2009
Distributed by the Global Marine Initiative

Bonaire Resilience Training Marks Beginning of New Effort to Build Capacity and Strengthen the Resilience Practitioners Network

Participants from the Reef Resilience and Climate Change Workshop held in Bonaire in June 2009. © Britt Parker

First – a big congratulations to the Bonaire National Marine Park for celebrating their 30th anniversary this year! In June, a collaboration between the Bonaire National Marine Park, Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance, NOAA, IUCN, and The Nature Conservancy resulted in the Reef Resilience and Climate Change Workshop for Coral Reef Managers. The Bonaire National Marine Park hosted the workshop which brought together managers and other interest groups from Bonaire, Curacao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Mexico. The workshop was a blend of past Reef Resilience Workshops lead by TNC and Responding to Climate Change Workshops lead by NOAA. We are working closely with NOAA to streamline training activities and find new ways to work with managers to build capacity and understanding of the impacts of and responses to climate change. The Nature Conservancy has recently received funding from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program and the MacArthur Foundation to continue our work to provide capacity building trainings, develop new resources, and strengthen the Resilience Practitioners Network. Some of the new activities of the network that are under development include quarterly case study webinars and hot topic calls where members can hear from experts and discuss current problems. We will also be launching a ‘members only’ space in the coming months where you will be able to log on, load your profile, share information about your work, and seek out those that are facing similar challenges. These changes are all a result of the great suggestions we have received from you, so keep them coming! Stay tuned as all of these new tools become available!

Spotlight on Palau

Snorkeler on recently recovered reef in Palau.
© Paul Marshall

In November 2003, the Protected Areas Network Act (PAN Act) was passed by the Palau National Congress. This landmark piece of legislation provides a framework for Palau’s national and state governments to collaborate to establish a nationwide network of terrestrial and marine protected areas with the aim of protecting the biodiversity and natural resources of value to future social, cultural, economic, and environmental stability of Palau. The primary goal of this project is to assist in this process using the following ecoregional assessment methodology:

Identify biodiversity targets (species to communities);
Map occurrences/distributions of biodiversity targets and maintain a database of information relevant to each target;
Identify conservation goals for each biodiversity target;
Identify areas of high biodiversity value (e.g., areas that support multiple targets, rare species, and/or help maintain ecosystem processes);
• Analyze the threats and causes of high biodiversity areas and targets.

These goals complement those of the Micronesia Challenge that aims to have each country within Micronesia conserve 30% of near shore environments, and 20% of terrestrial environments, by the year 2020. READ MORE

NOAA Predicts Bleaching Event in Caribbean

The NOAA Coral Reef Watch (CRW) Coral Bleaching Thermal Stress Outlook indicates that there is a significant potential for high levels of thermal stress in the Caribbean in 2009, especially in the Lesser Antilles including the USVI and Puerto Rico. Based on their current model, there is a potential for higher thermal stress than normal in 2009. Other areas of concern in 2009 are central Pacific including the equatorial Line Islands and Kiribati. Some thermal stress may also develop between the Northern Marianas Islands and Japan. An important caveat is that the model used for this outlook is not yet calling for El Niño development, whereas NOAA’s operational Climate Forecast System is now calling for development of an El Niño during 2009-10. If El Niño conditions continue to strengthen, this could increase the bleaching risk in the central to eastern Pacific and Caribbean. For more information click here for NOAA’s Seasonal Coral Bleaching Thermal Stress Outlook.

Coral Reef Job Announcements!

The Nature Conservancy and partners are currently listing a few coral reef conservation and management jobs right now. Please have a look!!

Reef Resilience Project Manager, The Nature Conservancy (closes August 17)
Tip: Search for ‘Reef Resilience' in the Basic Job Search to view full announcement

Palmyra Program Director, The Nature Conservancy (closes August 14)
Tip: Search for ‘Palmyra’ in the Basic Job Search to view full announcement

Coral Reef and Coastal Program Specialist – Management Liaison, NOAA (closes end of August)

Looking Ahead

XIII Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation
October 25-30, 2009, Belize City, Belize

62nd Annual Meeting of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
November 2-6, 2009, Cumana, Venezuela
*Daniel Pauly will be providing the keynote address*

East Asian Seas Congress 2009
November 23-27, 2009, Manila, Philippines