"The decline of coral ... if it continues ... will mark the end of one of the great beauties of creation and the end of a great hope that of discovering life forms hitherto unknown on the Earth ... Let us not forget that we are responsible to posterity for the preservation of the beauties of the sea as well as for those on land. We must learn how to make use of the biological and mineral resources of the oceans ... But we must also learn how to preserve the integrity and the equilibrium of that world which is so inextricably bound to our own." - Jacques Yves Cousteau, Excerpt from Life and Death in a Coral Sea, 1971 This book reports on the World Bank's 5th Annual Conference on Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, which focused on some of the most urgent threats facing coral reefs today, including the growing use of cyanide fishing along some of the richest reefs of the world, unsustainable trade in reef products, and constraints to effective establishment and management of marine protected areas. The proceedings stressed the need for strengthening the policy environment while adopting economic incentives and improved resource valuation techniques, informing management decisions through targeted research and monitoring, and rallying public support through environmental education and the media.

"Coral reefs are among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth, they provide humans with billions of dollars in economic and environmental services (also known as ecosystem services) such as food, protection for coasts, and tourism. However, increasing population growth rates along with economic and industrial development has resulted in unprecedented pressure to coral reefs. These pressures include impacts from climate change, unsustainable fishing, and land-based pollution. Domestically, the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) funds and equips reef conservation activities by NOAA and its partners in the seven US states and jurisdictions containing coral reefs (American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Florida, Guam, Hawai`i, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands), as well as in uninhabited islands including the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Remote Island Areas. Given some of the threats mentioned above, there are a few questions to consider. How much are coral reefs worth to society? How much do people care about coral ecosystems? Can we demonstrate the value of these unique ecosystems and account for what we stand to lose if they are irreparably damaged? Providing answers to these questions can assist with better decisions that influence coral reef resource management and policy. One way to provide answers is through the use of Economic Valuation techniques. The CRCP recognizes the benefits gained from the strategic use of social science tools in US coral reef jurisdictions and one of these tools includes Natural Resource Valuation. Since 2001, the program has funded social science activities including, valuation studies in seven (7) US coral reef jurisdictions. This document attempts to summarize the major findings of these studies in order to provide an overall report on the value of US coral reefs.

This open access book summarizes peer-reviewed articles and the abstracts of oral and poster presentations given during the YOUMARES 9 conference which took place in Oldenburg, Germany, in September 2018. The aims of this book are to summarize state-of-the-art knowledge in marine sciences and to inspire scientists of all career stages in the development of further research. These conferences are organized by and for young marine researchers. Qualified early-career researchers, who moderated topical sessions during the conference, contributed literature reviews on specific topics within their research field. .

Corals and coral reefs are seriously degraded in most tropical seas. Most of the damage is due to over-exploitation and the use of destructive fishing methods. This collection of essays presents a number of case studies on the economic analysis of coral reefs.