Evaluating approaches for scaling-up community-based marine-protected areas into socially equitable and ecologically representative networks |
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Authors: | Alessia Kockel Natalie C. Ban Maycira Costa Philip Dearden |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Geography, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2 Canada;2. School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2 Canada |
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Abstract: | Marine-protected areas (MPAs) are vital to marine conservation, but their coverage and distribution is insufficient to address declines in global biodiversity and fisheries. In response, many countries have committed through the Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity to conserve 10% of the marine environment through ecologically representative and equitably managed MPAs by 2020. The rush to fulfill this commitment has raised concerns on how increasing MPA coverage will affect other elements of Target 11, including representation and equity. We examined a Philippines case study to assess and compare 3 MPA planning approaches for biodiversity representation and equitable distribution of costs to small-scale fishers. In the opportunistic approach, MPAs were identified and supported by coastal communities. The donor-assisted approach used local knowledge to select MPAs through a national-scale and donor-assisted conservation project. The systematic conservation planning approach identified MPA locations with the spatial prioritization software Marxan with Zones to achieve biodiversity objectives with minimal costs to fishers. We collected spatial data on biodiversity and fisheries features and performed a gap analysis to evaluate MPAs derived from different approaches. We assessed representation based on the proportion of biodiversity features conserved in MPAs and distribution equity by the distribution of opportunity costs (fishing areas lost in MPAs) among fisher stakeholder groups. The opportunistic approach did not ineffectively represent biodiversity and resulted in inequitable costs to fishers. The donor-assisted approach affected fishers disproportionately but provided near-optimal regional representation. Only the systematic approach achieved all representation targets with minimal and equitable costs to fishers. Our results demonstrate the utility of systematic conservation planning to address key elements of Target 11 and highlight opportunities (e.g., integration of local and scientific knowledge can address representation and equity concerns) and pitfalls (e.g., insufficient stakeholder considerations can exacerbate social inequalities) for planning MPAs in similar contexts. |
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Keywords: | Aichi Target 11 distribution equity Marxan with Zones opportunity costs Philippines small-scale fisheries systematic conservation planning costos de oportunidad equidad de la distribución Filipinas Marxan with Zones Objetivo 11 de Aichi pesquerías a pequeña escala planeación sistemática de la conservación 爱知目标 11 系统保护规划 分配公平性 小规模渔业 机会成本 Marxan with Zones 软件 菲律宾 |
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