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Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

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Project • CBA2013-09NSY-Pascoe

Building Capacity for Socio-Ecological Resilience to Coral Bleaching Events in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand

The project will build capacity within scientific, government, industry, and non-governmental organizations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand for supporting the resilience of coral reefs and reef-dependent tourism to climate change impacts. Building on social and ecological data collected during an extensive bleaching event in 2010, project collaborators will hold multi-stakeholder learning workshops in each targeted country to raise awareness, provide scientific input on potential responsive actions, strengthen stakeholder relationships, identify key research questions and methodologies to guide future work, and to develop training materials for dive operators that will be incorporated into ongoing training programmes in the region. Increased capacity among scientists, government officials, reef-dependent tourism operators, and relevant non-governmental organizations to understand and respond to coral bleaching events; specifically: Collaboratively developed, evidence-based recommendations for appropriate reef use and management; Strengthened interactions among scientists, government decision-makers, and reef users; Collaboratively developed research questions and methodologies to guide work during future bleaching events; Training materials to guide dive operators in responding to bleaching events, which will be embedded into ongoing training programmes and networks for operators; and Greater awareness among these stakeholders about the impacts of coral bleaching and climate change on coral reef ecosystems, reef-dependent tourism operators, and national economies.