Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Abstract Countries have committed to conserving and restoring ecosystems after signing the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) will serve as a headline indicator to track countries' progress toward achieving this goal. Using Kenyan coral r...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mishal Gudka, David Obura, Eric Treml, Melita Samoilys, Swaleh A. Aboud, Kennedy Edeye Osuka, James Mbugua, Jelvas Mwaura, Juliet Karisa, Ewout Geerten Knoester, Peter Musila, Mohamed Omar, Emily Nicholson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-12-01
Series:Conservation Science and Practice
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13255
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850124259078176768
author Mishal Gudka
David Obura
Eric Treml
Melita Samoilys
Swaleh A. Aboud
Kennedy Edeye Osuka
James Mbugua
Jelvas Mwaura
Juliet Karisa
Ewout Geerten Knoester
Peter Musila
Mohamed Omar
Emily Nicholson
author_facet Mishal Gudka
David Obura
Eric Treml
Melita Samoilys
Swaleh A. Aboud
Kennedy Edeye Osuka
James Mbugua
Jelvas Mwaura
Juliet Karisa
Ewout Geerten Knoester
Peter Musila
Mohamed Omar
Emily Nicholson
author_sort Mishal Gudka
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Countries have committed to conserving and restoring ecosystems after signing the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) will serve as a headline indicator to track countries' progress toward achieving this goal. Using Kenyan coral reefs, we demonstrate how nations implementing the GBF can use standardized estimates of ecosystem degradation from RLE assessments to support site‐specific management decisions. We undertook a reef‐by‐reef analysis to evaluate the relative decline of four key ecosystem components over the past 50 years: hard corals, macroalgae, parrotfish, and groupers. Using the two benthic indicators, we also calculated standardized estimates of state to identify reef sites which maintain a better condition through time relative to adjacent sites. Kenya's coral reefs have degraded across all four ecosystem components. At more than half the monitored sites parrotfish and grouper abundance declined by more than 50%, while coral cover and macroalgae‐coral ratio declined by at least 30%. This resulted in an Endangered threat status for coral reefs in Kenya (under criterion D of the RLE). The results can guide management actions related to 9 of the 23 GBF targets. For example, we identified several sites with relatively healthy benthic and fish communities as candidate areas for protection measures under Target 3. The RLE has a key role to play in monitoring and meeting the goals and targets of the GBF, and our work demonstrates how using the wealth of data within these assessments can inform local‐scale ecosystem management and amplify the GBF's impact.
format Article
id doaj-art-7fbcd3f93ba641a68a14a73925e8d973
institution OA Journals
issn 2578-4854
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Conservation Science and Practice
spelling doaj-art-7fbcd3f93ba641a68a14a73925e8d9732025-08-20T02:34:20ZengWileyConservation Science and Practice2578-48542024-12-01612n/an/a10.1111/csp2.13255Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity FrameworkMishal Gudka0David Obura1Eric Treml2Melita Samoilys3Swaleh A. Aboud4Kennedy Edeye Osuka5James Mbugua6Jelvas Mwaura7Juliet Karisa8Ewout Geerten Knoester9Peter Musila10Mohamed Omar11Emily Nicholson12University of Melbourne Parkville Victoria AustraliaCORDIO East Africa Mombasa KenyaAustralian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia Crawley Western Australia AustraliaCORDIO East Africa Mombasa KenyaCORDIO East Africa Mombasa KenyaCORDIO East Africa Mombasa KenyaCORDIO East Africa Mombasa KenyaKenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute Mombasa KenyaKenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute Mombasa KenyaMarine Animal Ecology, Wageningen University & Research Wageningen The NetherlandsA Rocha Kenya Watamu KenyaWildlife Research and Training Institute Naivasha KenyaUniversity of Melbourne Parkville Victoria AustraliaAbstract Countries have committed to conserving and restoring ecosystems after signing the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) will serve as a headline indicator to track countries' progress toward achieving this goal. Using Kenyan coral reefs, we demonstrate how nations implementing the GBF can use standardized estimates of ecosystem degradation from RLE assessments to support site‐specific management decisions. We undertook a reef‐by‐reef analysis to evaluate the relative decline of four key ecosystem components over the past 50 years: hard corals, macroalgae, parrotfish, and groupers. Using the two benthic indicators, we also calculated standardized estimates of state to identify reef sites which maintain a better condition through time relative to adjacent sites. Kenya's coral reefs have degraded across all four ecosystem components. At more than half the monitored sites parrotfish and grouper abundance declined by more than 50%, while coral cover and macroalgae‐coral ratio declined by at least 30%. This resulted in an Endangered threat status for coral reefs in Kenya (under criterion D of the RLE). The results can guide management actions related to 9 of the 23 GBF targets. For example, we identified several sites with relatively healthy benthic and fish communities as candidate areas for protection measures under Target 3. The RLE has a key role to play in monitoring and meeting the goals and targets of the GBF, and our work demonstrates how using the wealth of data within these assessments can inform local‐scale ecosystem management and amplify the GBF's impact.https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13255biodiversitydecision supportecological indicatorsecosystem assessmentecosystem managementglobal policy
spellingShingle Mishal Gudka
David Obura
Eric Treml
Melita Samoilys
Swaleh A. Aboud
Kennedy Edeye Osuka
James Mbugua
Jelvas Mwaura
Juliet Karisa
Ewout Geerten Knoester
Peter Musila
Mohamed Omar
Emily Nicholson
Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
Conservation Science and Practice
biodiversity
decision support
ecological indicators
ecosystem assessment
ecosystem management
global policy
title Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
title_full Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
title_fullStr Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
title_full_unstemmed Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
title_short Leveraging the Red List of Ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
title_sort leveraging the red list of ecosystems for action on coral reefs through the kunming montreal global biodiversity framework
topic biodiversity
decision support
ecological indicators
ecosystem assessment
ecosystem management
global policy
url https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13255
work_keys_str_mv AT mishalgudka leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT davidobura leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT erictreml leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT melitasamoilys leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT swalehaaboud leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT kennedyedeyeosuka leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT jamesmbugua leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT jelvasmwaura leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT julietkarisa leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT ewoutgeertenknoester leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT petermusila leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT mohamedomar leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework
AT emilynicholson leveragingtheredlistofecosystemsforactiononcoralreefsthroughthekunmingmontrealglobalbiodiversityframework