Table 3.

Possible climate change adaptation options for managers and users of coral reef and coastal ecosystems based on empirical observations of adaptation to environmental change, climate variability, and extreme events

Social adaptation	Potential effectiveness	Reference
Geoengineering	• Limited potential to reduce solar radiation, which does not address ongoing CO2 emissions	Crabbe, 2009
	• Some potential for large-scale geo-engineering to reduce atmospheric CO2 using oceans
Coral culture and transplantation	• Some potential for restoration, though unlikely to be feasible to increase cover and rugosity at scales that match ecosystem degradation.	Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007
	• Some new advances in culturing techniques may assist culturing of more resistant species.
Wetland restoration	• Enhancement (removing stressors) and restoration (replanting) can improve resilience of mangroves and offset anticipated losses.
	• Restoration and planned retreat to remove coastal barriers can facilitate distributional shifts.	Gilman et al., 2008
Water quality	• Water quality issues arise from run-off of sediments and pollution from catchment and coastal land-uses	McCulloch et al., 2003
		Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007
	• Poor water quality exacerbates stress, bleaching and habitat degradation.	Eberhard et al., 2009
	• Improved water quality can reduce reef stress and confer resilience	Munday et al., 2008
		De’ath and Fabricius 2010
		Thomas et al., 2012
		Wooldridge et al., 2012
Foster herbivory through fisheries management	• Does not prevent reef degradation.	Hughes et al., 2003
	• Can delay coral cover loss from disturbance regimes	Graham et al., 2008
	• Can aid recovery of reefs post-disturbance by slowing algal growth and colonization.	Munday et al., 2008
	• Effectiveness depends on timing of herbivory in recovery processes and numbers of herbivores relative to varieties and cover of turf and macro algae.	Hughes et al., 2010
		Edwards et al., 2011
No-take marine protected areas (MPAs)	• No-take MPAs can protect functional diversity. Capacity to enhance resilience to climate change impacts is dependent on size and connectivity of protected areas.	Mumby et al., 2006
	• Protected areas can increase the potential for representation, replication and refugia of mangrove species, thereby creating response diversity.	Gilman et al., 2008
		Graham et al., 2008
		Munday et al., 2008
		Hughes et al., 2010
Stewardship	• Can build resilience to disturbance by contributing to strategies outlined above.	GBRMPA, 2009b
	• Can provide a marketing and competitive advantage where consumers prioritise green products.	Turton et al., 2010
	• Can facilitate trust building between private, public and civil society actors, thereby facilitating co-ordinated adaptation.
Diversification	Alternative Catch/Product	Tobin et al., 2010
	• Effective temporary solution to impacts from disturbance events	Marshall and Marshall 2012
	• More effective when supported by diversified markets and knowledge of alternative markets.	Cinner et al., 2012
	• Dependent on response diversity to climate change impacts. If all species/habitats are equally sensitive, opportunities are reduced.
	Diversified Income/Livelihoods
	• People with multiple income sources appear to cope better with cyclone effects on their livelihood, though this is not consistent across individuals.
	• More effective where alternative income sources are not climate-sensitive
Effort	Increasing effort or capacity	McClanahan and Cinner, 2012
	• Could be an effective solution in under-utilised fisheries.	Gunn et al., 2010
	• Can buffer impacts in the short-term.
	• Can be mal-adaptive in the medium to long-term in fully utilized or over-exploited fisheries.
	Decreasing effort or capacity
	• Effective in fully utilized fisheries at improving catches and profits for other fishers, as well as protecting impacted fish stocks and ecosystems.
	• Does incur costs in the short-term for those who reduce effort or exit a fishery.
Mobility and Migration	• Can be effective as a temporary measure.	Tobin et al., 2010
	• Tends to be constrained by current ecological knowledge (fishers revert back to places they know) and existing market locations.	Lédée et al., 2012
	• Can lead to concentration of effort, over-exploitation, and conflict among resource users.
	• High levels of migration can lead to social disruption to immigrant and host populations.
Emergency response and Insurance	• Disaster relief funding available to agricultural industries in GBR catchment but not necessarily to reef-industries.	Tobin et al., 2010
	• Effective as a temporary adaptation response.
	• State pay-outs likely to be unsustainable as a response to long-term impacts of climate change.
	• Potential for private insurance mechanisms linked to adaptation best-practice (e.g., high stewardship, high building standards)