[Coral-List] Rebuilding marine life

Mon Feb 1 19:01:59 UTC 2021

I very much agree.
    I have seen statements in the past that have gone something like "coral
reefs can't recover."  With a few exceptions such as when there is no
stable substrate left, I see no signs that if we stop abusing coral reefs
they can't recover.  Examples of the lack of recovery abound, but they are
almost all instances in which the chronic human impacts continue.  Can we
really expect them to recover in spite of continuing abuse??  I think not.
The critical thing is reducing human impacts.
     The article points out that coral reefs are an exception, they are not
as easily rebuildable as the other marine ecosystems they studied.  Given
the way things have been going for coral reefs, rebuilding coral reefs
seems like a pipe dream, we'd be doing fantastic just to stop the loss of
reefs.  I often say that we have been losing the battle with coral reefs
since we first got hints that coral reefs have been declining due to human
impacts.
      So I completely agree that coral reef recovery would happen if humans
stopped damaging reefs.  We CAN save coral reefs.  The much tougher
question is WILL we save coral reefs?  If we don't do vastly better than we
have been doing so far at reducing impacts, we are just going to keep right
on losing.  And while there are some encouraging signs from the new US
administration on climate change, and hopefully US leadership will
encourage other countries to tackle climate change more vigorously, almost
all countries have not been fulfilling their promises under the Paris
accords, AND those promises are not nearly enough, they MUST be increased
greatly.  It is all doable, and as painful as the costs and disruption of
energy supply systems will be, the pain will be far less than if we don't
act.  There really are no excuses, the time for action is here, and
hopefully the US actions will nudge others to move more decisively.
      And no, a little bit of coral restoration will NOT save the world's
reefs.  Somehow we always do too little too late for coral reefs.  That's
going to have to change and change fast if we're going to save coral
reefs.  Business as usual will be the death of coral reefs.
      I apologize, I'm preaching to choir.  Listers know better than most
of the world just how dire the situation is for coral reefs.  Governments
currently have very full plates with the pandemic and economy, that is the
top of the agenda, rightly so.  BUT, if action isn't taken on climate
change, coral reef ecosystems are doomed.  Coral reefs have been getting
nothing but the crumbs off the table since this battle began, and that has
to change or we're going to keep losing them and it is going to get much,
much worse.
      So YES it CAN be done.  But we need a LOT more support to get it done.
      Cheers,  Doug

On Mon, Feb 1, 2021 at 2:23 AM David Obura via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Hi Steve,
>
> … can’t believe I’m going to be the first to reply (at least as far as I
> can tell!!) … must be the weekend!!
>
> In answer to your question "Is substantially rebuilding marine life within
> a human generation largely achievable, if the required actions, prominently
> mitigating climate change, are deployed at scale??” … I’d have to answer a
> resounding YES!!.
>
> The source behind this is Carlos Duarte and colleagues recent paper
> “Rebuilding marine life” -
> https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2146-7 - which basically says
> yes, this is possible in a 30 year timeframe.  And I think our own
> intuitions and knowledge that if natural systems are given a chance they
> certainly have an ability to recover from past impacts.
>
> Of course, there are devils in the details - what is ’substantial’ and
> what is ‘largely achievable’?
>
> The paradigm coming forward in the context of the Anthropocene is that of
> course we can’t ‘rebuild’ nature to where it was given the climate change
> that is already committed and humanity’s capture of so many earth system
> processes (nutrients, protein production, water, etc).  And given global
> population and the need for a good quality of life for the half the world
> that does not have one, it will be very hard to reduce humanity’s footprint
> to much less than a ‘full planet’ under the planetary footprint idea.  But
> nature certainly has the capacity to regenerate to what we’d probably
> recognise as a balanced, mature, ‘good' system under these new conditions,
> if we reduce our negative influences to the extent that we can. And of
> course certain things take much longer than human generations to come to
> that state.
>
> But if, given the potential for good action (finally!) in the US system,
> and in others, sufficient commitment and effort are made towards
> sustainability, then I think we should have very high confidence that we
> can "rebuild marine life within a human generation” that would have
> wonderful implications on nature and on all of us!! So yes, it would be
> worth it to invest in that change - but we still have a lot of convincing
> to do, your new administration notwithstanding!!
>
> cheers,
>
> David
>
>
> David Obura || CORDIO East Africa, #9 Kibaki Flats, Kenyatta Beach,
> Bamburi Beach, P.O.BOX 10135 Mombasa 80101, Kenya
> Email: dobura at cordioea.net  --  davidobura at gmail.com
> Websites: www.cordioea.net  --   www.wiofutures.net  --
> www.coralspecialistgroup.org
> Mobile: +254-715 067417; skype dobura; Twitter @dobura
> On 29 Jan 2021, 20:12 +0300, coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov, wrote:
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 11:52:25 -0500
> > From: sealab at earthlink.net
> > To: Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Cc: "=?utf-8?Q?coral-list=40coral.aoml.noaa.gov?="
> > <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Rebuilding marine life
> > Message-ID: <2f091d83-77a2-4ae9-bffd-2d4b8553e464 at Steves-iPad>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> >
> > Hi Doug,
> >
> > Thanks for the heads up on that paper. I especially liked two of their
> primary concepts.
> >
> > The idea of framing the restoration of marine ecosystems as a ?doable
> Grand Challenge? for humanity and the coining of the term ?recovery wedges?
> which are defined as complementary actions which when stacked together help
> raise the recovery rates of various ecosystem components. Mitigating
> climate change, removing sources of water pollution and addressing
> over-fishing are described as ?basal wedges? which are required to set
> coral reefs on a recovery trajectory.
> >
> > My question to you and other listers is this: Considering that here in
> the USA, the new administration seems to be determined to take a leadership
> role on climate change.
> >
> > Is ?substantially rebuilding marine life within a human generation
> largely achievable, if the required actions, prominently mitigating climate
> change, are deployed at scale??
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > On 1/24/21, 11:29 PM, Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2146-7
> >
> > The discussion has a long paragraph on coral reefs that begins with the
> >
> > statement: "Rebuilding coral reefs carries the highest risk of failure."
> >
> > Cheers, Doug
> >
> > --
> >
> > Douglas Fenner
> >
> > Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> >
> > NOAA Fisheries Service
> >
> > Pacific Islands Regional Office
> >
> > Honolulu
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