In common with the rest of the world, the Pacific contends with human population growth, the challenge of sustainable management of natural resources and global issues of conservation and human welfare such as climate change. Uniquely, the Pacific was profoundly affected by European colonisation over a very short time, causing significant problems of overexploitation and introduction of exotic species alongside the human challenges of governance, sustainability and human rights in a post-colonial world.

The challenges for conservation in the Pacific are sharpest in managing coral reefs. The effects of anthropogenic climate change are already evident, as well as unregulated exploitation, land clearing or agricultural production on adjoining lands (Duffy 2011, Hutchings et al. 2013, Reside et al. 2017). One effective response is implementing marine reserves (Ceccarelli et al. 2011), with monitoring (Drumm et al. 2011, Norman et al. 2016) and encouragement of non-comsumptive industries such as nature-based tourism (Venables et al. 2016). Critical to success is understanding traditional management and natural resource use (Bao and Drew 2017) and integrating this knowledge into community-based management approaches (Albert et al. 2014, 2016). Communities can contribute to research and monitoring too through citizen science (Koss et al. 2009, Chin 2014).

In 2018, Pacific Conservation Biology celebrates 25 years of publication. It is also International Year of the Reef. In this Virtual Issue, we have collated key papers to aid the understanding of the value of, and threats to, coral reefs and their ecosystems, with hope that this research will contribute to a brighter future for our reefs.

Mike Van Keulen and Mike Calver