Section 15.3.3 provides four specific examples of how remote sensing data and
products are used to monitor and respond to reef threats. Lastly, Sect. 15.3.4
discusses challenges and opportunities for monitoring temporal change on coral
reefs.
15.3.1 Resource Management
In order to make informed decisions about how management strategies, development proposals, and policies for use of the marine and coastal zone will affect
coral reef resources and biodiversity, decision-makers need to be aware of what
resources exist at local, national and regional levels. Often these resource inventories are required by law through an environmental impact assessment (EIA) prior
to approval of development projects in the coastal zone. For example, the Environment Management (EIA Process) Regulations 2007 under Fiji’s Environment
Management Act 2005 require ‘‘a description of the environmental setting of the
site of the proposal, including a statement of environmental resources in the area
before the implementation of the activity or undertaking, and a projection or
estimation of changed environmental circumstances that may occur as a result of
the activity or undertaking’’. Coral reef remote sensing can provide these baselines
and, when field data are available, the image classifications can potentially be used
to scale up site-based abundance and biomass measures of species or species
groups (Edwards 2000; Andréfouët et al. 2005a).
On a global scale, maps of coral reef habitat are available through the United
Nations Environment Program—World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEPWCMC) publication of the World Atlas of Coral Reefs (Spalding et al. 2001).
Note that the original publication had a few limitations, namely that the described
habitat largely represented only emergent reef crest and just 30 % of the reefs
within the atlas were mapped from source data with resolution better than
1:250,000 scale. However, the UNEP-WCMC data have been updated through
partnership with the U.S. National Aeronautic and Space Agency (NASA) to
correct positional errors and the extent of reef areas covered. These reef maps, in
combination with data from the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project
(MCRMP), are available online through ReefBase (www.reefbase.org).
On a national scale, resource inventories are essential to expand national marine
protected area networks in support of commitments as signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Through the CBD’s Programme of Work
on Protected Areas, parties to the convention are required to assess gaps in current
protected area networks and identify candidate sites to fill those gaps (Dudley and
Parish 2006). For these national and regional planning exercises, accurate metrics
of coral reef habitats are needed in order to properly account for management
progress against national targets (Naseer and Hatcher 2004). For example, in 2005
the Fiji Government declared a commitment to effectively manage 30 % of its
inshore and offshore marine areas by 2020. As the MCRMP data were not yet
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products are used to monitor and respond to reef threats. Lastly, Sect. 15.3.4
discusses challenges and opportunities for monitoring temporal change on coral
reefs.
15.3.1 Resource Management
In order to make informed decisions about how management strategies, development proposals, and policies for use of the marine and coastal zone will affect
coral reef resources and biodiversity, decision-makers need to be aware of what
resources exist at local, national and regional levels. Often these resource inventories are required by law through an environmental impact assessment (EIA) prior
to approval of development projects in the coastal zone. For example, the Environment Management (EIA Process) Regulations 2007 under Fiji’s Environment
Management Act 2005 require ‘‘a description of the environmental setting of the
site of the proposal, including a statement of environmental resources in the area
before the implementation of the activity or undertaking, and a projection or
estimation of changed environmental circumstances that may occur as a result of
the activity or undertaking’’. Coral reef remote sensing can provide these baselines
and, when field data are available, the image classifications can potentially be used
to scale up site-based abundance and biomass measures of species or species
groups (Edwards 2000; Andréfouët et al. 2005a).
On a global scale, maps of coral reef habitat are available through the United
Nations Environment Program—World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEPWCMC) publication of the World Atlas of Coral Reefs (Spalding et al. 2001).
Note that the original publication had a few limitations, namely that the described
habitat largely represented only emergent reef crest and just 30 % of the reefs
within the atlas were mapped from source data with resolution better than
1:250,000 scale. However, the UNEP-WCMC data have been updated through
partnership with the U.S. National Aeronautic and Space Agency (NASA) to
correct positional errors and the extent of reef areas covered. These reef maps, in
combination with data from the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project
(MCRMP), are available online through ReefBase (www.reefbase.org).
On a national scale, resource inventories are essential to expand national marine
protected area networks in support of commitments as signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Through the CBD’s Programme of Work
on Protected Areas, parties to the convention are required to assess gaps in current
protected area networks and identify candidate sites to fill those gaps (Dudley and
Parish 2006). For these national and regional planning exercises, accurate metrics
of coral reef habitats are needed in order to properly account for management
progress against national targets (Naseer and Hatcher 2004). For example, in 2005
the Fiji Government declared a commitment to effectively manage 30 % of its
inshore and offshore marine areas by 2020. As the MCRMP data were not yet
414
S. Jupiter et al.