Nature’s contributions to people dependent on Brazilian coral and rocky reefs

Healthy reef environments provide many benefits to humanity. At least 500 million people living in coastal communities around the world highly depend on benefits provided by coastal and marine environments, including coral reefs. This study examined ecosystem services provided by coral and rocky reefs in Brazil, as perceived by users of these environments. An online questionnaire was used to assess people’s perceptions of contributions to society provided by reef environments in Brazil and changes in provisioning of these services over time. The nature of contributions to people cited by participants was classified into 18 categories according to the conceptual framework of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. A total of 71 people answered our questionnaire, and for some questions more than one answer was possible. Main benefits perceived were classified as “physical and psychological experiences’’ (35.5% of 269 total statements), followed by “habitat creation and maintenance” (20%) and “learning and inspiration” (17.7%). Perception of change in the provisioning of services over time was not related to respondents’ experience with the marine environment or main professional activity (research, tourism, and others). Most statements of change were negative, highlighting the decrease in biodiversity, increase in solid waste, disorganized growth in tourism and reduced water quality. Improvement statements were related to biodiversity, use, environmental quality, governance/management and learning. Published literature supports changes perceived by reef users and the few positive perceptions appear to be influenced by social initiatives towards biodiversity conservation that have contributed to raise awareness about the marine environment.