Coral Reefs: A Reef Resilience Toolkit Module

Implementation

To maintain social resilience, coastal villagers who depend on the sea need to be involved in the implementation of management strategies. Photo © A.Bjukumar/Marine Photobank

Once priority areas, regions, and scales have been indentified, strategies should be identified to meet the goals of the climate adaptation plan. Developing suitable strategies for enhancing social resilience is most effective in participation with those likely to benefit (i.e., the community or industry), since they will be in the best situation to identify strategies that are most feasible, attractive and acceptable. People need to be satisfied with their situation, in terms of control over decisions, in order for social sustainability and environmental goals to be achieved.1 If people feel confident about their future and the future of the resource, then they are more likely to positively assess the risks associated with change and their ability to cope, both of which are important in maintaining social resilience.

Partnerships that collaboratively learn, and that encourage creativity and the design of novel solutions while sharing the goals of sustainability and adaptation to changing climate conditions, are fundamental for identifying and implementing adaptation options. Conducting vulnerability assessments and developing adaptation plans and actions in partnership with all climate stakeholders will help to identify and achieve community goals.

Management recommendations for implementing resilience-building strategies:

• Management should be based on a recognition that coral reefs and other marine ecosystems, including their associated human communities, are complex and adaptive and seldom change in a structured or predictable way.
• Building resilience requires coastal managers to collaborate with people from other disciplines/sectors. It also requires them to take into consideration issues related to sustainable development, community development, and disaster mitigation.
• Leadership should be developed across scales, allowing enough flexibility in institutions and politics and should encourage institutional and social memory at all levels (local to global).
• Social networks with a diverse set of actors (e.g., fishers, government agencies, religious groups, academic institutions, women, private sector, NGOs, tourism industry, etc.) should be developed aiming to connect institutions and organizations across local, regional and global scale.;
• Policies should encourage stakeholder participation and incorporate their ecological knowledge structures in a multi-governance system.
• Management should promote learning and communication among individuals, groups and sectors of society to encourage collaboration and active participation.
• Evaluation, monitoring and deliberation of the outcomes of management actions should be encouraged followed by change in practices if necessary.

Summary of Social Resilience Assessment (Marshall et al. 2009)

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