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Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) integrates the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services into an overall strategy to help people adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. It includes the sustainable management, conservation and restoration of ecosystems to provide services that help people adapt to both current climate variability, and climate change1. Ecosystem-based Adaptation contributes to reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience to both climate and non-climate risks and provides multiple benefi ts to society and the environment.

This Reef Rehabilitation Manual is intended to complement the Reef Restoration Concepts & Guidelines1 and provide more detailed hands-on advice, based on lessons-learnt from previous experience, on how to carry out coral reef rehabilitation in a responsible and cost-effective manner. The two booklets should be used together. We build on the work of many people, notably Maragos (1974), Miller et al. (1993), Harriett and Fisk (1995), Heeger and Sotto (2000), Clark (2002), Job et al. (2003), Omori and Fujiwara (2004) and Precht (2006)2-9, who have provided a considerable body of advice on restoring reefs (see References). Despite considerable advances over the last 35 years, coral reef restoration is still in its infancy as a discipline. A few rehabilitation projects appear to have been successful at scales of up to a few hectares; many, perhaps most, have failed or not met original expectations. The primary aims of this manual are 1) to reduce the proportion of reef rehabilitation projects that fail, 2) to introduce protocols for methods that could allow larger areas of degraded reef to be repopulated with corals whilst minimizing collateral damage to reefs where corals are sourced, 3) to highlight factors to take into consideration at the planning stage so as to minimize the risk of failure, and 4) to underline the current limitations of reef rehabilitation. The focus is on corals because these are the keystone species that give structure and topographic complexity to coral reef ecosystems. Unfortunately, they are also among the taxonomic groups most vulnerable to global climate change.

Interest in the world’s forests has grown to unprecedented heights, especially with growing awareness of their role in the global carbon cycle. The possibility of mitigating climate change by reducing carbon emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation, and by increasing carbon uptake through afforestation and sustainable forest management, highlights the essential role of forests in supporting life on Earth.

A series of surveys were carried out to characterize the physical and biological parameters of the Millennium Atoll lagoon during a research expedition in April of 2009. Millennium is a remote coral atoll in the Central Pacific belonging to the Republic of Kiribati, and a member of the Southern Line Islands chain. The atoll is among the few remaining coral reef ecosystems that are relatively pristine. The lagoon is highly enclosed, and was characterized by reticulate patch and line reefs throughout the center of the lagoon as well as perimeter reefs around the rim of the atoll. The depth reached a maximum of 33.3 m in the central region of the lagoon, and averaged between 8.8 and 13.7 m in most of the pools. The deepest areas were found to harbor large platforms of Favia matthaii, which presumably provided a base upon which the dominant corals (Acropora spp.) grew to form the reticulate reef structure. The benthic algal communities consisted mainly of crustose coralline algae (CCA), microfilamentous turf algae and isolated patches of Halimeda spp. and Caulerpa spp. Fish species richness in the lagoon was half of that observed on the adjacent fore reef. The lagoon is likely an important nursery habitat for a number of important fisheries species including the blacktip reef shark and Napoleon wrasse, which are heavily exploited elsewhere around the world but were common in the lagoon at Millennium. The lagoon also supports an abundance of giant clams (Tridacna maxima). Millennium lagoon provides an excellent reference of a relatively undisturbed coral atoll. As with most coral reefs around the world, the lagoon communities of Millennium may be threatened by climate change and associated warming, acidification and sea level rise, as well as sporadic local resource exploitation which is difficult to monitor and enforce because of the atoll’s remote location. While the remote nature of Millennium has allowed it to remain one of the few nearly pristine coral reef ecosystems in the world, it is imperative that this ecosystem receives protection so that it may survive for future generations.

Climate change is a key human development issue. In the absence of urgent steps to combat and adapt to it, it will worsen the quality of life of the poor population and threaten many vulnerable nation states. The United Nations has been instrumental in ensuring that climate change remains a top priority issue globally, and to integrate the issue into national and local development agenda. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is committed to supporting the Government of Maldives in operationalizing the outcomes of the fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), by mainstreaming climate change adaptation and low carbon development in the national Strategic Action Plan. In the Maldives, UNDP advocates Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) at the island, atoll and national level, through policy advice and advocacy, and strengthening human, institutional and system-wide capacities

Climate change has become one of the most important global issues of our time, with far-reaching natural, socio-economic, and political effects. To address climate change and development issues from the perspective of evaluation, an international conference was held in Alexandria, Egypt. This book distills the essence of that timely conference, building on the experiences of more than 400 reports and studies presented.