Climate change and its impact on natural resources such as coral reefs has caused numerous complex issues in the field of conservation planning and management. Responses to climate change require actions across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Because of this, there is a need for structured approaches to adaptation planning that combine proven methods of vulnerability assessment with effective adaptation responses. With this in mind, the Corals and Climate Adaptation Planning project of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force developed guidelines for improving coral reef management through a climate-smart approach. The work presented in this paper is an examination of this approach, how it can be applied to coral reefs, and feedback from stakeholders on how useful they found this approach to be. This article is freely available in the online journal Environmental Management
