This comprehensive set of scientific and social instruments helps local governments and communities to assess their vulnerability to climate change and form their own climate change adaptation plans to address local conditions. So far it has been adopted in pilot sites in the Coral Triangle, such as the Nino Konis Santana National Park in Timor-Leste, Verde Island Passage in the Philippines, Kei Islands in Indonesia, the proposed Tun Mustapha Park in Malaysia, Kimbe Bay in Papua New Guinea, and Western Province in the Solomon Islands.

The guide is one of the key tools that Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) has developed to reduce the decline of the region's marine resources and increase the social and economic resilience of coastal communities.  It aims to bring the policies that have been adopted at the regional and national level to the communities who are at the front lines of climate change.