Coral reefs in the wider Caribbean declined in hard coral cover by ~80% since the 1970s, but spatiotemporal analyses for sub-regions are lacking. Here, we explored benthic change patterns in the Mexican Caribbean reefs through meta-analysis between 1978 and 2016 including 125 coral reef sites. Findings revealed that hard coral cover decreased from ~26% in the 1970s to 16% in 2016, whereas macroalgae cover increased to ~30% in 2016. Both groups showed high spatiotemporal variability. Hard coral cover declined in total by 12% from 1978 to 2004 but increased again by 5% between 2005 and 2016 indicating some coral recovery after the 2005 mass bleaching event and hurricane impacts. In 2016, more than 80% of studied reefs were dominated by macroalgae, while only 15% were dominated by hard corals. This stands in contrast to 1978 when all reef sites surveyed were dominated by hard corals. This study is among the first within the Caribbean region that reports local recovery in coral cover in the Caribbean, while other Caribbean reefs have failed to recover. Most Mexican Caribbean coral reefs are now no longer dominated by hard corals. In order to prevent further reef degradation, viable and reliable conservation alternatives are required.

Progressive climate-driven environmental changes are threatening the global livelihoods of small-scale fishers, yet how their adaptation responses vary in relation to hazard exposure is poorly understood. We use a systematic review approach to identify a global data set of 301 reported adaptation responses (remaining, adaptive, and transformative) of small-scale fishers to climate change and analyse their spatial agreement with estimated geographical location of global coastal hotspot areas for specific climate change hazards associated to those responses (long-term trends in sea surface temperature, cumulative intensity of marine heatwaves, frequency of tropical storms, and intensity of associated storm surges). Only 37% of responses were found in climate change hotspots. Despite this, our results evidence that fishers are responding more passively in areas with lower exposure levels to abrupt climatic events. The relative proportion of adaptive and transformative responses increase with climate change hazard exposure.

Climate change‐driven ocean warming is altering the geographic ranges of species, leading to a poleward shift of tropical species into temperate regions (tropicalisation). This threatens the native marine community assemblages by changing the availability of traditional marine resources, thus impacting the livelihood and well‐being of coastal fisheries. Fishers' individual responses are expected to transition from remaining to coping and from adapting to transforming as climate change exposure increases, yet empirical evidence is limited. The existing strong thermal gradient along the western coast of Shikoku (Japan), an area experiencing tropicalisation, provides a unique opportunity to analyse how regions facing different climate change exposure levels (North: low, Centre: medium and South: high) affect fishers' responses in relation to their adaptive capacity. Data from 92 face‐to‐face interviews with small‐scale fishers from 25 locations revealed that the largest proportion of coping and adaptive responses is in the Central region, while remaining responses predominated in the Northern and Southern regions. Results from a multinomial logistic model indicate that the exposure level is a good predictor for coping and adaptive responses but not for transformative ones. This possibly reflects the fact that these fishers might have exited coastal fisheries prior to our study as suggested by the strong fisher population decrease in the communities from the Southern region over the last three decades. This study provides novel empirical evidence on how climate change exposure influences fishers' responses to past and current climate change impacts, highlighting the intricate interplay between exposure level and individual adaptive capacity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

In 2005, an extreme heatwave hit the Wider Caribbean, followed by 13 hurricanes (including hurricanes Emily and Wilma) that caused significant loss in hard coral cover. However, the drivers of the potential recovery are yet to be fully understood. Based on recent findings in the literature of coral cover recovery in the Mexican Caribbean after the mass bleaching event and associated hurricanes in 2005, this study analyzed, through random-effects meta-analysis, the hard coral and macroalgae benthic development and potential drivers of change between 2005 and 2016 in the Mexican Caribbean. Therefore, we tested the relative effect of sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a water concentration, coastal human population development, reef distance to shore, and geographical location on both hard coral and macroalgae cover over time. Findings revealed increases of both hard coral (by 6%) and algae cover (by ca. 14%, i.e., almost three times the increase of corals) over 12 years. Although our findings confirm the partial coral recovery after the 2005 Caribbean mass coral mortality event, they also indicate rapid colonization of algae across the region. Surprisingly, only SST correlated negatively with changes in coral cover. Contrary to expectations, there was a significantly greater algae cover increase in the Central section of the Mexican Caribbean, which is characterized by a low population density. However, a constant discharge of nutrient-rich freshwater may have facilitated algae growth there. This study reports partial regional reef recovery, but it also indicates that local factors, particularly eutrophication, facilitate algae growth at a speed that is much faster than coral recovery.

Since its endorsement as a global network Programme in June 2021, the Early Career Ocean Professional (ECOP) Programme has been instrumental in supporting ocean professionals worldwide through funding, training, networking opportunities, and career development initiatives. Rooted in the vision of elevating diverse perspectives, the ECOP Programme fosters knowledge exchange between experienced professionals and ECOPs to promote ocean sustainability. As the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) enters its fourth year of implementation, the ECOP Programme has grown and diversified to a formidable extent, both geographically and thematically. With over 5,200 ECOPs from 151 countries and overseas territories, the global ECOP community is currently dispersed across five regional nodes and more than 40 national hubs. This commentary brings some of the most active ECOP nodes into the limelight, amplifying their collective efforts to better understand, engage, and empower the next generation of ocean professionals across different cultural contexts. This is also an opportunity to showcase the successes, milestones, and challenges that ECOP nodes have encountered over the past 2 years, including on thematic priorities such as communications and outreach, capacity development, and ocean literacy. Moving forward, the ECOP Programme aims to further expand geographically, enhance funding capacities, deepen capacity development efforts, and promote greater awareness of the UN Ocean Decade ecosystem and its vast portfolio of endorsed Actions. As the next generation of ocean professionals will inherit our interconnected ocean beyond 2030, building trust, transferring knowledge, and taking true ownership of the global ocean agenda are paramount.