50 Reefs Q&A: Prevention is Better Than a Cure

The 50 Reefs Initiative brings together leading scientists and conservation practitioners from around the world to identify the top 50 coral reefs least vulnerable to climate change that are capable of regenerating in the future. They recently met to discuss their regional expertise and local strategies to inform a global strategy ensuring the survival of reef ecosystems around the world.

The following Q&A is the second in a series with three experts about their experiences with coral reefs and why they are a part of the 50 Reefs Initiative.

We talked with Sangeeta Mangubhai, who joined the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2014 and is the Director of the Fiji Country Program. Originally from Fiji, she completed her PhD in Coral Reef Ecology in 2007 at Southern Cross University in Australia. She has 17 years of environmental management and science experience from the Indonesia, the South Pacific, East Africa and Australia. Her skills include multi-objective marine protected area design and management, marine spatial planning, ecosystem-based management, coral reef fisheries, environmental policy, governance and climate change. Specialist in designing monitoring programs to understand impacts of disturbances on coral reefs communities, and the ‘return of investment’ of conservation strategies and interventions. She is currently an adjunct scientist with the New England Aquarium, a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas, editor on the journal Pacific Conservation Biology and on the Executive Committee for the Women in Fisheries Network – Fiji.

To read the full story, click here.