title: Transforming management of tropical coastal seas to cope with challenges of the 21st century.
abstract: Over 1.3 billion people live on tropical coasts, primarily in developing countries. Many depend on adjacent coastal seas for food, and livelihoods. We show how trends in demography and in several local and global anthropogenic stressors are progressively degrading capacity of coastal waters to sustain these people. Far more effective approaches to environmental management are needed if the loss in provision of ecosystem goods and services is to be stemmed. We propose expanded use of marine spatial planning as a framework for more effective, pragmatic management based on ocean zones to accommodate conflicting uses. This would force the holistic, regional-scale reconciliation of food security, livelihoods, and conservation that is needed. Transforming how countries manage coastal resources will require major change in policy and politics, implemented with sufficient flexibility to accommodate societal variations. Achieving this change is a major challenge - one that affects the lives of one fifth of humanity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Water, Environment and Health, United Nations University, 175 Longwood Rd, Hamilton, ON L8P0A1, Canada. Electronic address: sale@uwindsor.ca.
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Sale
authors.affiliation: Sound Seas, Bethesda, MD 20816, USA.
authors.forename: Tundi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Agardy
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA.
authors.forename: Cameron H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Ainsworth
authors.affiliation: Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2725 Montlake Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112, USA.
authors.forename: Blake E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Feist
authors.affiliation: Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia.
authors.forename: Johann D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105-6715, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Christie
authors.affiliation: Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Ove
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hoegh-Guldberg
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Mumby
authors.affiliation: School of the Environment, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Feary
authors.affiliation: Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Megan I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7HU, UK.
authors.forename: Tim M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Daw
authors.affiliation: School of Arts and Social Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Foale
authors.affiliation: Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2725 Montlake Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112, USA.
authors.forename: Phillip S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Education & Interdisciplinary Studies, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA.
authors.forename: Kenyon C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lindeman
authors.affiliation: School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32653, USA.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lorenzen
authors.affiliation: Agricultural and Resource Economics/CT Sea Grant, University of Connecticut-Avery Point, Groton, CT 06340, USA.
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Pomeroy
authors.affiliation: School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7HU, UK.
authors.forename: Edward H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.affiliation: Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Bradbury
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, and TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Corrin
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK.
authors.forename: Alasdair J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: CORDIO East Africa, BOX 10135, Mombasa 80101, Kenya.
authors.forename: David O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Obura
authors.affiliation: Swire Institute of Marine Science, University of Hong Kong, Cape d'Aguilar Road, Shek O, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Yvonne J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Sadovy de Mitcheson
authors.affiliation: CORDIO East Africa, BOX 10135, Mombasa 80101, Kenya.
authors.forename: Melita A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Samoilys
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Charles R C
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Sheppard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D057231:Climate Change; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003710:Demography; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005398:Fisheries; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D009792:Oceans and Seas
keywords: Coastal resource management; Coral reef; Global change; Marine spatial planning; Socio-ecological management; Tropical coastal fishery