Coral Reef Monitoring Coping with Climate Change, Toward a Socio-ecological System Perspective

Abstract

Coping with climate change is a crucial issue for coral reef monitoring. This chapter advocates a holistic approach based on a Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) model in order to build a dashboard of indicators. Coral reefs should be studied as a social ecological system, which means to (a) monitor the ecosystem and the socio-system in the same areas, (b) involve stakeholders and citizens to improve the spatial representativeness of monitored stations, (c) monitor the dynamics of watersheds, including mapping the land use changes and modeling the soil erodibility. The dashboard of indicators should prioritize adaptive management at the local scale instead of reporting at the worldwide scale.