This article offers an analytical framework that takes both environmental susceptibility and social adaptive capacity into consideration. It examines conservation actions in five western Indian Ocean countries, where climate change has impacted coral reefs and where social adaptive capacity differs markedly. The authors point out that current conservation strategies do not reflect adaptive capacity and are, therefore, ill-prepared for climate change. The authors argue that conservation policies that consider social adaptive capacity are better than the singular emphasis on government control and the creation of no-take areas.