[Coral-List] cost/value of 'reef restoration'Re: Symposium on Effective Conservation @ICCB2017

[Nohora Galvis]

Thanks Sarah,
Yes, our (ALL Colombian Coral Reef Researchers) case study Varadero
Coral Reef is worthy to be preserved. Last week and today
international ICCB2017 participants dived and found evidence of its
very HIGH ECOLOGICAL VALUE for the WORLD !!
Confirming that for this specific coral reef in the Cartagena Bay it
is "Better to prevent than to cure".

2017-07-26 9:41 GMT-05:00, Sarah Frias-Torres <sfrias_torres at hotmail.com>:
> Dear LIsa, Nohora and Coral-List,
>
>
> We need to chill out a bit on this constant debate of conservation vs
> restoration.
>
>
> As I said during one of the coral reef restoration sessions I co-chaired at
> the 2016 ICRS, and have said repeated times:
>
> We need conservation, restoration, and drastic reductions in greenhouse
> gases to work together.
>
> Otherwise, there's no future for coral reefs.
>
>
> So I find debates on rejecting restoration in favor of conservation, or the
> other way around, quite unproductive.
>
>
> Sometimes, the conservation approach alone is all a coral reef needs.
> Sometimes it will be active restoration. Sometimes a mixture of both.
>
>
> Let's talk. Let's work together and learn from both scientific fields
> (conservation AND restoration), and let's speak up to stop further
> destruction of coral reefs.
>
>
>
> Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
> Twitter: @GrouperDoc
> Blog: http://grouperluna.wordpress.com
> http://independent.academia.edu/SarahFriasTorres
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of Nohora Galvis
> <icri.colombia at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2017 8:48 AM
> To: lisa carne
> Cc: "Coral-List
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] cost/value of 'reef restoration'Re: Symposium on
> Effective Conservation @ICCB2017
>
> Dear Lisa,
>
> Thanks for your information about your benchmark of "restoration
> success": an increase in coral cover by > 35%. About
> cost-effectiveness "Prevention is better than to Cure"
> If the world coral reef scientific community overcome the bystander
> effect to speak up, supporting the statement any unsustainable plan
> that involves destruction of resilient coral reefs would not be even
> considered. Developers would find other alternatives to avoid
> destruction of coral reefs with the empowered sceintific community!!!
>
> The Varadero case study was reported by fishermen in 1989
> (Galvis,1989). Valeria was hired for the project of dredging the
> current Bocachica Channel, she reported thinking that it was a
> political decision and that could not do any further action to save
> the coral reef. The confidential "restoration project": breaking
> pieces of massive coral colonies (400 years-old) 90% healthy coral
> cover and put them in another place to justified the project. I
> invited her  with other scientists to give the second talk of the
> symposium since they now want to avoid the destruction of the
> remaining coral reef and want to share the benchmarks for a healthy
> Caribbean coral reef. Today you can learn more about the
> socio-economics and the decision making during our first talk.
>
> There are many ways to estimate Restoration Costs for Varadero:
> *Costs of hiring scientists Depends if those projects include to favor
> unsustainable dvelopment: Real Cost Varadero $1500000USD just to
> present state that is feasible to break coral colonies and move them
> some place else out of the way. Those costs are low for developers.
> *Real Costs of the "Restoration Project" should consider the climate
> change scenario or the fact that the coral reef is a climate change
> refuge. This scientific fact may stop any project immediately.
> *Other real social costs for fishermen compensation may start from
> $81millions USD/Km2
> stopping the local threats to allow all the different coral colonies
> to growth forming a biodiverse complex ecosystem structure to
> replenish the ecological function and provide again the economic
> services (e.g.fisheries) (Galvis and Galvis, 2016)
> *Costs of replacing the economic values including the variable TIME
> (years slow growing massive coral colonies to adapt) may start from
> $244millionsUSD (Galvis and Galvis, 2017).
>
> The Cost of dredging the alternative channel $60millionsUSD.
> Therefore, the REAL estimates of ecological, social and economic
> impact costs are higher than the project
> presented and considered by decision makers that favor the destruction
> of the most resilient coral reef in Colombia.
>
> That is why for Varadero conservation  should be the ethical option,
> while restoration promesses are unreal in the current climate change
> scenario. Breaking few of the 10000 coral colonies
> #CoralBahíaCartagena only will build a small artificial reef ....if
> they survive outside the climate change refuge
>
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>
> 2017-07-24 19:25 GMT-05:00, lisa carne <lisasinbelize at gmail.com>:
>> Dear Nohora, Elisa and Coral-list folks:
>>
>> Thank you writing into this format, as I was unaware of the recent
>> publications in Ecological Applications-even though I just did a search
>> for
>> economic values/costs of reef restoration.
>>
>> I write from Belize, where we have been doing acropora 'replenishment'
>> for
>> over a decade. I am constantly asked the cost for restoring reefs per m2
>> by
>> 'real' funders and private donors: my standard reply is that fuel is our
>> highest cost, and most variable. Not only do we pay between
>> US$5-7/gallon,
>> but sites are 7-12-20->35 nautical miles away; logistics and practicality
>> are one of our many nursery and outplant site selection criteria.
>>
>> For those that did not reed the thread (perhaps due to subject line which
>> I
>> have edited), Elisa first wrote RE: a publication "The cost and
>> feasibility
>> of marine coastal restoration" (Bayraktarov et al 2016), to which Buki
>> Rinkevich submitted a response on just coral reefs (thank you Buki for
>> kindly sending me said letter), and the authors have now responded to
>> that
>> letter (link in Elisa's original post).
>>
>> I absolutely agree we need to share real costs and values and am working
>> on
>> pulling out $ values that our work has directly contributed to the local
>> community just since 2013. Costs alone are not even easy as we may have
>> multiple sites, and many grants have outreach etc tied into their
>> budgets/deliverables, and most build on past work as well. Let me point
>> out
>> some frustrations and key points these e-mails have raised for me:
>>
>> 1) confusion between conservation and restoration and specifically
>> artificial reefs. Nohora refers to Varadero reef in Colombia which was
>> only
>> recently 'discovered' (and thanks to colleague Valeria Pizarro who
>> informed
>> me immediately). This reef exists where 'it should not" because of poor
>> water quality conditions, etc yet has extremely high coral cover and
>> diversity. Now it seems to be threatened by development before it can be
>> properly studied-and these reefs do need to be studied to understand why
>> they still thrive when so many others do not. I do agree with Nohora: an
>> ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. That said  we are
>> collectively failing so far with prevention.
>>
>> Restoration is NOT the same as artificial reefs, in Belize we now have in
>> place a Restoration Policy to distinguish these. Also it IS true many
>> developers and governments have (mis) used 'restoration' and/or
>> relocations
>> as in: we need a port/beach let's move all these corals that are in the
>> way.
>>
>>
>> 2) Also some history: some have publlished on the folly of restoration
>> while
>> collecting $ from govt and/or developers  to do what I just described.
>> Notice I put 'restoration' and 'replenishment' in quotes, because we
>> cannot
>> even seem to agree on terminology/definitions.
>>
>> 3) colleagues still argue over the need/viability of whatever definition
>> of
>> restoration you want to use. I have heard it all: it won't work, they
>> will
>> adapt on their own, you can never scale up, you cannot restore a reef
>> with
>> just a few species (Caribbean acroporids-but then when I aim to show
>> associated biodiversity-'oh you don't need that everyone knows that").
>> Moving further along: you must show genetic diversity (done), you must
>> show
>> sexual reproduction (when gamete formation was shown "oh but they might
>> be
>> re-absorbed"), when we documented spawning from nursery grown corals (all
>> three acroporid taxa) oh that doesn't mean recruits are surviving, you
>> must
>> show that. You should use this method, or that method or get divers to
>> pay
>> to fund the work, etc etc
>>
>> 4) so we (community based not-for-profit) struggle to meet 'scientific'
>> requirements (you need to publish more) and financial/organizational
>> needs/capacity building and then are also chastised for not showing
>> costs..
>> working on it!
>>
>> As some of you may have seen, there is now a regional effort at
>> addressing
>> some of these issues (CRC) but we still do not have: standardized ways of
>> quantifying outplants/success, standardized ways of calculating growth
>> rates, a real guide for where and when "restoration'/'replenishment'
>> efforts
>> should (and if they should) occur and furthermore, a consensus on coastal
>> community involvement and a link to alternative livelihoods/poverty
>> reduction versus academic, govt, and large NGO's staff salaries.
>>
>> To any that read this whole thing I apologize for ranting and: please
>> look
>> us up, and better yet, come visit our work in Belize! we have already
>> shown
>> an increase in coral cover by > 35% (photo mosaics, thanks to Art Gleason
>> and others) and yes, a level of thermal tolerance/adaptation which I
>> could
>> use help 'proving' /quantifying, with years of temperature and bleaching
>> history/data (and host/symbiont genetic data)
>>
>> And by all means if any of you out there want to help us with any of
>> these
>> needs (socio-economic studies, associated biodiversity, thermal tolerance
>> data) please drop me a line, but kindly bring your own funding.
>>
>> Still at it in Belize,
>>
>> Lisa Carne
>> Founder/Executive Director
>> Fragments of Hope, Ltd.
>> Placencia Peninsula
>> Stann Creek District
>> Belize, C.A.
>> tel: (501) 623-6122
>> fragmentsofhope.org
>>
>> On Jul 21, 2017, at 7:09 AM, Nohora Galvis <icri.colombia at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Elisa,
>>
>> By international and national laws coral reefs should be protected
>> from local and global threats. Justification of unsustainable
>> development projects with high mortality "restoration projects" in the
>> current scenario of climate change would not help to "save the natural
>> coral reefs". You also concluded that.
>>
>> The scientific community should be encouraged and empowered to present
>> their knowldege to preserve the coral reefs that are refuges of
>> climate change and that are resilient to local threats. Being optimist
>> means being proactive to promote effective conservation that should be
>> included in the local and regional plants of development. If that
>> happens unsustainable developers with still hire scientists to advice
>> them to find antohter alternatives and to guide them not to destroy
>> coral reefs.
>>
>> The symposium is based on case studies.  One of those, the Varadero
>> Resilient reef that is about to be destroyed by a dredging plan and
>> the destruction is about to be justified with a "restoration project"
>> that will consist in breaking very few coral colonies from the 10000
>> located at South of Cartagena Bay to place them in Horno, where
>> already the mortality is high and none threats are controlled since as
>> it is an unprotected area. We visited yesterday the area and verified
>> the reports of our volunteer reporters within our citizen science
>> program involving scuba diving operators.
>>
>> Join the petition
>> https://www.change.org/p/anla-minambienteco-luisernestogl-causasciudadanas-salvemosvaradero-no-a-un-canal-sobre-un-arrecife-%C3%BAnico-en-el-mundo?source_location=minibar
>>
>> 2017-07-20 23:08 GMT-05:00, elisa.bayraktarov <elisa.bayraktarov at gmx.de>:
>>> Dear Nohora and Coral List,
>>> While seeing myself as an advocate for an ecologically, socially and
>>> economically meaningful conservation of global coral reefs, I think we
>>> should acknowledge that smart and effective coral conservation will
>>> always
>>> include elements from both protection and restoration.
>>> There are scenarios under which restoration may be more cost effective
>>> and
>>> provide more benefits than protection over time (see Possingham et al.
>>> 2015).
>>> Which approach to use will always depend on the specific situation,
>>> whether
>>> the natural recovery of coral reefs can be supported through management
>>> and
>>> the available budget that we have to actively intervene. I am curious to
>>> know what the other coral listers think.
>>> At the ICCB2017 in Cartagena, I will present a 'Synthesis on coral reef
>>> restoration efforts' in the symposium on Policy and Practice on Tuesday
>>> 25th
>>> 11:30 - 13:00 in Arsenal.
>>> Further readings can be found here:
>>> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elisa_Bayraktarov/publication/317631929_Response_to_%27Rebutting_the_inclined_analyses_on_the_cost-effectiveness_and_feasibility_of_coral_reef_restoration%27/links/5949d4e44585158b8fd5c015/Response-to-Rebutting-the-inclined-analyses-on-the-cost-effectiveness-and-feasibility-of-coral-reef-restoration.pdf
>>> http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/15-1077/full
>>> Looking forward to catching up at ICCB!
>>> CheersElisa
>>>
>>> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>>> -------- Original message --------From: Nohora Galvis
>>> <icri.colombia at gmail.com> Date: 20/7/17  01:35  (GMT+10:00) To:
>>> Coral-List
>>> <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> Subject: [Coral-List] Symposium on
>>> Effective Conservation @ICCB2017
>>> Dear 9,400 members of the Coral-List,
>>>
>>> The ICCB2017 is starting soon in Cartagena, we will moderate the
>>> knowledge café on "Voices of Conservation" Monday at 14:30.
>>>
>>> We will also have a Panel to discuss threats to coral reef
>>> preservation as a natural ecosystem as organizers of the Symposium on
>>> Effective Conservation.
>>>
>>> We will not refer to restauration as building one coral species as
>>> that is a theme for other kind of meetings on artificial reefs because
>>> for us Active Conservation involves the unanimous recommendations in
>>> the abstracts to protect effectivley the coral reef refuges such
>>> #VaraderoColombia and stop / diminish the local and global threats as
>>> the way to effectively save more coral reefs with a natural ecosytem
>>> function with multi-species complex structure keeping the
>>> #OceanOptimism #ConservationOptimism #GlobalBehaviorChange
>>> #GlobalBehaviOURchange
>>>
>>> Specifically we invite you to attend the first talk of the Symposium
>>> 157 on Tuesday 25th of July to be aware of the Psychosocial Phenomena
>>> some coral reef scientist are facing, such as the bystander effect and
>>> diffusion of responsibility when they are less likely to offer help in
>>> conservation campaigns leaving other leaders to take action. The
>>> priorities of some coral reef scientists are measured with units of
>>> USD $$ as they receive funding to justify unsustainable development
>>> allowing coral reef destruction while they offer "SAVING THE REEF" by
>>> breaking some coral colonies to paste them some place else without
>>> futher monitoring to follow the survivorship, morbility and high
>>> mortality of ALL taxonomic groups at the natural coral reef ecosystem.
>>>
>>> The coral reef divers who want to join us at diving at
>>> #CoralesBahíaCartagena #ClimateChangeRefuge please contact me as I am
>>> staying at
>>> http://www.coralesdeindias.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3KKthdWV1QIVxySBCh2PJgTkEAAYASAAEgJeHfD_BwE
>>> --
>>> Cordial saludo,
>>>
>>> Nohora Galvis
>>>
>>> Directora Observatorio Pro Arrecifes
>>> Fundación ICRI Colombia
>>> Coordinadora Red Internacional de Observadores Voluntarios del Arrecife
>>>
>>> Facebook.com/ICRI.COLOMBIA
>>>
>>> Twitter @ArrecifesCoral e @ICRIcolombia
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>
>>
>> --
>> Cordial saludo,
>>
>> Nohora Galvis
>>
>> Directora Observatorio Pro Arrecifes
>> Fundación ICRI Colombia
>> Coordinadora Red Internacional de Observadores Voluntarios del Arrecife
>>
>> Facebook.com/ICRI.COLOMBIA
>>
>> Twitter @ArrecifesCoral e @ICRIcolombia
>> _______________________________________________
>> Coral-List mailing list
>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Cordial saludo,
>
> Nohora Galvis
>
> Directora Observatorio Pro Arrecifes
> Fundación ICRI Colombia
> Coordinadora Red Internacional de Observadores Voluntarios del Arrecife
>
> Facebook.com/ICRI.COLOMBIA
>
> Twitter @ArrecifesCoral e @ICRIcolombia
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>


-- 
Cordial saludo,

Nohora Galvis

Directora Observatorio Pro Arrecifes
Fundación ICRI Colombia
Coordinadora Red Internacional de Observadores Voluntarios del Arrecife

Facebook.com/ICRI.COLOMBIA

Twitter @ArrecifesCoral e @ICRIcolombia