Climate change, unsustainable fishing, and land-based pollution (Ainsworth et al. 2016, Cinner et al. 2018, Hughes et al. 2018, Wenger et al. 2020) are among the top pressures to coral reefs globally, resulting in substantial losses of live coral cover (Eddy et al. 2021) and the loss of ecosystem services valued at more than $10 trillion dollars per year (Costanza et al. 2014). Strengthening the enabling conditions for successful coral reef conservation is one of the most pressing challenges facing communities, scientists, managers, policymakers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and philanthropic donors in the 21st century, and will require significant investments to improve governance of coral reefs and the human activities that threaten them (Morrison et al. 2019).