The Global Socioeconomic Monitoring Initiative (SocMon) has been a part of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) since 1997. SocMon focuses primarily on coastal and island communities and works through a network of stakeholders with the primary goal of supporting management and conservation of coral reefs. Globally, seven regions have been successfully conducting SocMon for over two decades – the Caribbean, Central America, Brazil, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Western Indian Ocean.
This report builds on the first Global SocMon report titled, “Socioeconomic conditions along the world’s tropical coasts: 2008” (Loper et al. 2008) and aims to provide the reader with a summary of the socioeconomic work conducted with coastal and marine communities globally, the types of data and information being collected, and insight on lessons learned. Section 1 provides the contextual background to the initiative. In Section 2, a synthesis of the full complement of SocMon assessments conducted over a 22-year period is presented. Sections 3 and 4 are introspective and highlight the results of a survey administered to regional SocMon coordinators to gather their perspectives on and experiences with the initiative in terms of challenges and opportunities and the future for the initiative.