Best-practice forestry management delivers diminishing returns for coral reefs with increased land-clearing

Protection of coastal ecosystems from deforestation may be the best way to protect coral reefs from sediment runoff. However, given the importance of generating economic activities for coastal livelihoods, the prohibition of development is often not feasible. In light of this, logging codes-of-practice have been developed to mitigate the impacts of logging on downstream ecosystems. However, no studies have assessed whether managed land-clearing can occur in tandem with coral reef conservation goals.

This study quantifies the impacts of current land use and the risk of potential logging activities on downstream coral reef condition and fisheries using a novel suite of linked land-sea models, using Kolombangara Island in the Solomon Islands as a case study. Further, we examine the ability of erosion reduction strategies stipulated in logging codes-of-practice to reduce these impacts as clearing extent increases.

We found that with present-day land use, reductions in live and branchi...