Coral reef fisheries are especially important to the economic livelihoods of the rural coastal poor in many developing countries, yet these reef fisheries are threatened by both overexploitation and climate change impacts, such as temperature changes, ocean acidification and coral bleaching (Badjeck et al. 2010; Cinner et al. 2012; Doney et al. 2012; Planque et al. 2010; Sumalia et al. 2011). For example, Cinner et al. (2012) examine the vulnerability of 29 coastal communities to the impacts of coral bleaching on fishery returns across five western Indian Ocean countries – Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Tanzania. They found vulnerability to vary considerably both within and among countries. Across countries, Kenya was the most vulnerable, followed by Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles, and Mauritius. At the site level, Sahamalaza in Madagascar had the highest vulnerability, but seven of the ten most vulnerable sites were from Kenya. Some sites in Madagascar also had the lowest vulnerability. Given that coral reef vulnerability to climate change is highly variable, appropriate policy and adaptive responses must be not only country but location-specific.

Coastal and near-shore habitats such as wetlands, mangroves, coral and oyster reefs, and seagrasses, not only benefit the coastal rural poor by supporting fishing or protecting agriculture through buffering coastlines from erosion and saltwater intrusion, but also protect against storm surge and other coastal hazards, provide raw materials, food and forage, and filter sediment and pollutants (Barbier et al. 2011; Doney et al. 2012; Erwin 2009; Spalding et al. 2014; Wilkinson and Salvat 2012). These benefits, as well as the cultural value of these marine ecosystems, can be significant to poor coastal households.

For example, estimates from Thailand suggest that the net present value (in 1996 $) over 1996-2004 arising from the net income to local communities from collected forest products from coastal mangroves range from $484 to $584 per hectare (ha). The net present value of mangroves as breeding and nursery habitat in support of off-shore artisanal fisheries ranged from $708 to $987 per ha, and the storm protection service was $8,966 to $10,821 per ha (Barbier 2007). Such benefits are considerable when compared to the average incomes of coastal households; a survey of four mangrove-dependent communities in two different coastal provinces of Thailand indicates that the average household income per village ranged from $2,606 to $6,623 per annum, and the overall incidence of poverty (corresponding to an annual income of $180 or lower) in all but three villages exceeded the average incidence rate of 8% found across all rural areas of Thailand (Sarntisart and Sathirathai 2004). The authors also found that excluding the income from collecting mangrove forest products would have raised the incidence of poverty to 55.3% and 48.1% in two of the villages, and to 20.7% and 13.64% in the other two communities.

The Thailand example is not unusual; poor households across the developing world typically benefit from a wide range of protection and support of their economic livelihoods from mangroves (Badola and Hussain 2005; Bandaranayake 1998; Barbier et al. 2011; Das and 31