Coral reefs and the people that depend on them are facing a multitude of global, regional and local problems including climate change, overfishing and dredging. These problems are difficult to solve mainly because coral reefs are all interconnected.

The Modelling and Decision Support Working Group believes a real solution for problems faced by coral reefs must:

• Attack all problems simultaneously
• Understand how local problems affect global problems and vice versa
• Understand how social and economic problems affect biological and physical problems and vice versa
• Explore the effects of different management strategies on all problems
• Allow managers to learn and adapt

Modelling is an important management technology that allows decision makers and reef users to see the dynamics of the whole reef system – including ecological, biophysical and socio-economic aspects.