Government policy alone can’t save Florida’s reefs. We all must take responsibility

Scientists just announced that they’ve mapped the entirety of the planet’s coral reefs, which encompass almost 100,000 square miles. Three-quarters of those reefs have never been mapped at this new level of detail. The maps include Florida’s Coral Reef, which stretches 358 miles from the Dry Tortugas off Key West to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County.

Unfortunately, the future of this precious natural resource is in doubt. National and state leaders — as well as Floridians who manage, depend on and simply enjoy the reef —must take action to protect it for generations to come.

Warming oceans, combined with more localized water pollution and direct impacts, have damaged this sensitive ecosystem.

Florida’s coral reef teems with millions of marine plants and animals and more than 40 types of coral. But it provides much more than beauty and biodiversity. The reef generates $6 billion each year in tourism and fisheries-related spending and supports more than 81,000 jobs. Coral reefs also protect communities along the shore by reducing the coastal flooding and erosion caused by storms.

But Florida’s reef is disappearing. For decades, global stressors such as rising water temperatures and increased ocean acidity have damaged this sensitive ecosystem. At the regional level, the altered Everglades Ecosystem and inadequate wastewater disposal have harmed water quality. Local activities, including dredging, coastal construction and careless boating, diving and fishing directly harm corals and make them more susceptible to bleaching and disease.

Without action, scientists estimate that 70% to 90% of coral reefs could be lost by 2050. Florida can’t let this happen. And it doesn’t have to.

Policymakers can take several steps. To start, local, state, and federal authorities must collaborate to improve water quality along Florida’s coast. We need funding for better wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to reduce the level of pollutants that leak into our groundwater, rivers, and oceans. Good water quality is essential for healthy coral reefs — and healthy humans, too.

Our leaders must also support efforts to combat climate change. Scientists have known for decades that changing ocean conditions have an enormous impact on fragile reef systems and the human communities that interact with and depend on them. Even slight deviations in temperature can prove fatal for corals.

Policies that reduce carbon emissions and promote alternatives to fossil fuels are vital to saving Florida’s reef. Those are exactly the types of policies world leaders will be looking to adopt at next month’s COP26 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

In addition, Congress and the state Legislature must continue to provide the funding reef managers need to do their jobs. At the federal level, that means reauthorizing the more than two-decade-old Coral Reef Conservation Act, which charges the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with leading the efforts of agencies at multiple levels of government to research, conserve, and restore coral reefs nationwide.

Coral disease intervention and reef restoration projects also need funding. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, first identified in Florida in 2014, requires further study to understand how and when it spreads and how best to respond to disease outbreaks. Coral propagation and active replanting of corals on degraded reefs can help ensure that our reef survives — and thrives.

Finally, boaters, divers, anglers, residents, visitors and the coastal businesses that cater to them have roles to play in protecting and restoring the reef. Simple changes in behavior, like following best practices for fish handling or taking care not to drop anchor on a reef, can make a big difference to the health of living corals.

The choices we make far away from the reef also can have a significant impact on reef health. For example, we can reduce our carbon footprint, properly dispose of litter so it won’t wash into the coastal zone and use reef-safe sunscreens when at the beach rather than those made from chemicals that can harm corals.

Thanks to the Florida

Reef Resilience Program, these recommended actions are clearly outlined in the Resilience Action Plan for Florida’s Coral Reefs.

We know what to do. We have a clear path forward.

We won’t get a second chance.

Dr. Lizzie Mcleod is The Nature Conservancy’s Global Reef Systems Lead.

How fast did women-owned businesses receive pandemicrelated Paycheck Protection Program loans compared to men-owned businesses in Miami-Dade County?

We don’t know because gender data is unavailable. That’s a problem.

We do know that minority-owned businesses around the country waited longer to receive PPP funds in zip codes where there were smaller proportions of white residents. Criticism grew when this data was released. As a result, the number of providers for loans expanded, and wait times improved. If we didn’t have the data, we would have never known there was an issue.

For this reason, we need to urgently address the global lack of data based on gender, and we need to start at home. If we don’t tackle that disparity in Miami-Dade County, then our women and girls and the challenges they face will remain invisible.

The scarcity of gender data is such a dire issue that the United Nations stated that is a threat to gender equality. In MiamiDade, the gender pay gap between full-time women employees and men decreased and was 13% in 2016. We were making slow progress, but then we went backward, and it jumped to 19% in 2019. Why did that occur? Was there a specific reason for the increase? We can’t answer these questions because we need more numbers.

Despite women’s significant advancements in education and labor force participation, gender disparities across most economic indicators persist. The pandemic magnified issues, including unequal pay, job stability, and the impact of social norms on women’s role in society and family. Women make up less than half the workforce in the U.S. but had a higher percentage of job losses than men in 2020. Additionally, more women than men continue only to work part-time and in lower-paying service jobs.

How do women in Miami fare in comparison to these numbers? Since the pay gap was rising in Miami in 2019, has it kept increasing the past year? If so, by how much? We won’t have Miami’s data until 2022. What about violence against women, their health and wellbeing, or women in leadership? That information is needed now more than ever as issues confronting women have been inflamed by the pandemic.

Exacerbating the problem is the metrics we do have can be hard to find because they are scattered, not publicly available, or not current. Missing or inaccessible information generates inequality, which impedes our ability to understand challenges and act on solutions. Who would have thought that with all the inequalities women face, they also have to deal with inequality in data?

If we want to resolve the issues holding back women and girls from prospering in Miami, we need to collect current data, make it accessible and monitor it to eliminate inequities. This is precisely why The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade expanded its programs last year to include research.

This week we’re launching the Miami-Dade Gender Equity Dashboard to serve as the place where everyone in our community can access key metrics on women and girls. As we reduce information gaps, the dashboard will grow. Government officials, community leaders, the public and private sectors, philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and our residents can use this to come together and mobilize to create local solutions to national problems.

Several organizations supporting women and girls will find metrics useful. However, since they’re already working on gender issues, isn’t it necessary to see how they’re doing and if they need help? In our first research study conducted this year, the Landscape of Services research report, we gathered data on these organizations. This has never been done before in Miami, and we found that they’re struggling due to the virtual shift, unstable funding, and mental health challenges that their staff and those they help are facing. Data transparency will help them do their work, but through our continued collaboration, we also hope to show the tremendous impact they have in reducing inequality.

In this age of technology where data is rampant, it’s indefensible that we don’t have the information we need, but Women’s Fund MiamiDade is taking charge in addressing data inequality and making it accessible, user-friendly and actionable.

However, we can’t do it alone.

We’re calling on all of you to become our community partners by investing with us to bridge the gaps, support important work under way, and work with us in building a stronger, more resilient, and equitable community in Miami-Dade.

Arathi Ramappa is board vice-chair and Dr. Maria Ilcheva is a board member of the Women’s Fund Miami-Dade.