Build Capacity for Change

• Develop local and national expertise for better management of coral reef ecosystems through training of resource managers and decision-makers. Financial resources, educational levels, and availability of training vary widely across the region, and the small size of many countries may undermine their ability to sustain full scientific and administrative capacities. National governments, international organizations, NGOs, and others should support and implement expanded provision of training to managers and decision-makers across the region to strengthen the effectiveness of coastal planning and the implementation of management plans. For example, the UNEP-Caribbean “Training of Trainers” courses are designed to provide professionals from across the region with opportunities to strengthen their skills in all aspects of planning and management of marine protected areas. To multiply the impact of this training, participants, in turn, train additional practitioners back in their local communities

• Encourage free flow and exchange of information and experiences about management and protection of coral reef resources. Across the Caribbean, there are examples of excellence in management, training programs, government and community involvement, research, and monitoring. Better systems are needed to encourage the free flow and exchange of information between scientists and management agencies, between countries, and between government agencies. Better networking and exchange is also needed to ensure that information and experience from one area can be accessed and used across the region. International NGOs and intergovernmental agencies should facilitate increased sharing of information and expertise on condition, management, and protection of coral reefs in the Caribbean. The International Coral Reef Action Network’s (ICRAN) network of MPA demonstration sites and the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity (CARICOMP) network are examples of successful sharing.

• Integrate socioeconomic and environmental monitoring to increase understanding of coastal habitats. Good management requires continued access to information about natural resources and how they change over time and in response to natural and human influences. Monitoring programs that integrate human, physical, and ecological data are essential to improve our ability to link, for example, changes in upland activities with downstream impacts. The scientific community and resource managers should move toward such integrated monitoring programs and make the information widely available in useable formats. Where possible, these integrated monitoring efforts should use existing methods and protocols to facilitate comparison of findings among sites and countries. For example, Socioeconomic Monitoring Guidelines for Coastal Managers in the Caribbean (SocMon) provides simple, standardized guidelines for establishing a socioeconomic monitoring program at a coastal management site in the Caribbean that could serve as a basis for a regional system in which data can be compared.

• Facilitate stakeholder participation in decision-making about management and protection of coral reef resources. The absence of community inclusion and participation has played a key role in the failure of many reef management efforts. When stakeholders are excluded from decision-making, local knowledge and capacity is left untapped and reef management programs may fail to respond to the needs of users. National governments and resource managers should apply collaborative and cooperative (co-management) approaches to coral reef management that will involve all stakeholders. National governments and NGOs can work with resource users to promote the concept of co-management, moving beyond pilot projects to full-scale initiatives. The Coastal and Marine Management Program (CaMMP) of the Caribbean Conservation Assocation (CCA) is working to develop guidelines for successful co-management of coastal resources in the Caribbean.

• Create the systems of governance required for effective management of coral reefs. In many cases, the activities of different groups, agencies, or even international bodies work in opposition to one another or fail to take advantage of potential synergies to better manage marine resources. Clear institutional frameworks, legal authority, and administrative capacity to manage marine resources are critically needed. National governments should facilitate good governance of the coastal zone by carrying out national assessments of the institutional and legal framework for executing policy and updating institutional and legal frameworks where necessary. For instance, Barbados and Belize have successfully implemented specific legislation on institutional arrangements for management of the coastal zone, cutting across the prior sectoral approaches.

• Use the Reefs at Risk indicators and apply the analytical methodology at finer resolutions to support decision-making on coral reef management. The analysis tool and standardized indicators developed under this project provide a valuable and low-cost means of understanding the potential pressures on coral reefs where specific information on reef conditions is not available. The project uses an approach that is reproducible and can be implemented at local scales (full technical notes available online at http://reefsatrisk.wri.org). Use of such indicators increases confidence in and support for management decisions. National, provincial, and local resource agencies should contribute to the development of finer-scale indicators to inform policy and decision-making.