Open AccessExploring the Lack of Funding for Coral Reef Research and it’s Effects on Coral Reef Management and Conservation
Author(s) -
Jenna Bushnell,
Soohyung Park
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of student research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2167-1907
DOI - 10.47611/jsrhs.v10i4.2101
Subject(s) - coral reef , reef , coral reef organizations , coral reef protection , coral , resilience of coral reefs , fishery , resilience (materials science) , great barrier reef , climate change , psychological resilience , thematic analysis , aquaculture of coral , coral bleaching , environmental resource management , ecology , sociology , environmental science , qualitative research , biology , psychology , social science , physics , thermodynamics , psychotherapist
Climate change is greatly harming coral reefs (Gibbs and West, 2019). It is important to research how to help these coral reefs build resilience against climate change but research programs are severely underfunded (Johnston et al. 2020). This paper explored how lack of funding prevents scientists from saving coral reefs and how scientists themselves can be affected. The goal of this paper was to bring to light the struggles faced in the midst of underfunding to feasibly gain support from politicians and government officials to promote funding for these programs. Through three virtual interviews with two scientists and one college professor, I gathered personal experiences from these participants on how coral reefs are being affected today, why research is necessary, and how lack of funding prevents the restoration of these reefs. With the use of a thematic analysis, I was able to recognize common themes between the interviews in order to conclude how lack of program funding prevents scientists from managing and restoring these coral reef ecosystems. The initial assumption for this paper was that coral reef research is underfunded because coral reefs are considered less important, however, the analysis of the data for this paper concluded that all research programs are underfunded. In essence, marine biology, in general, is underfunded as opposed to mainly research on coral reefs. As a result, scientists can be very limited in their abilities to conduct research.