Social Science Program

Solely focusing on biophysical research and monitoring can lead to ineffective management of coral reefs and coastal resources. Many key drivers of coral reef ecosystem decline are linked to human behavior and activities, including urban and coastal development, tourism, overfishing, coastal pollution, and global climate change.

What We Are Doing

The Coral Reef Conservation Program’s Social Science Program improves coral reef management by recognizing people and society as part of the coral reef ecosystem and incorporating related data into coral reef management strategies. The program provides critical information on how society values coral reefs. This deeper understanding of the human connections to coral reefs helps managers assess the social and economic consequences of coral reef management policies, interventions, and activities.

Goals of the Social Science Program:

1. Improve and enhance capacity to answer key questions about coral reef management
2. Implement the socioeconomic component of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program
3. Increase collaboration in socioeconomic research across NOAA to improve jurisdictional capacity for local management and decision-making
4. Streamline sharing of social science information to support national and jurisdictional needs
5. Strengthen existing community-based management efforts and increase community participation in place-based managed activities in the jurisdictions
6. Develop and apply social science tools—including the economic valuation of ecosystem services—to enhance the Coral Reef Conservation Program's management and conservation activities
7. Understand the socioeconomic implications of climate change in coral reef jurisdictions
8. Continue the Coral Reef Conservation Program's global leadership in facilitating socioeconomic monitoring by supporting the Global Socioeconomic Monitoring Initiative for Coastal Management (SocMon—and in the Pacific Region, SEM-Pasifika)

Social Science Outreach Products

• Perceptions of U.S. Caribbean coral reef ecosystem services contextualize fishing perceptions of COVID-19 impacts
• Connecting the Dots: Corals and Humans (NOS Podcast)
• The Coral Reef Economy (Video)
• 10 Ways to Protect Coral Reefs (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: American Samoa (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: Florida (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: Guam (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: Hawaii (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: CNMI (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: Puerto Rico (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: Puerto Rico - Español (Infographic)
• Connections between Coral Reefs & Coastal Communities: US Virgin Islands (Infographic)