The impacts of climate change and the socioecological challenges they present are ubiquitous and increasingly severe. Practical efforts to operationalize climate-responsive design and management in the global network of marine protected areas (MPAs) are required to ensure long-term effectiveness for safeguarding marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here, we review progress in integrating climate change adaptation into MPA design and management and provide eight recommendations to expedite this process. Climate-smart management objectives should become the default for all protected areas, and made into an explicit international policy target. Furthermore, incentives to use more dynamic management tools would increase the climate change responsiveness of the MPA network as a whole. Given ongoing negotiations on international conservation targets, now is the ideal time to proactively reform management of the global seascape for the dynamic climate-biodiversity reality.

Climate change is increasingly impacting marine protected areas (MPAs) and MPA networks, yet adaptation strategies are rarely incorporated into MPA design and management plans according to the primary scientific literature. Here we review the state of knowledge for adapting existing and future MPAs to climate change and synthesize case studies (n = 27) of how marine conservation planning can respond to shifting environmental conditions. First, we derive a generalized conservation planning framework based on five published frameworks that incorporate climate change adaptation to inform MPA design. We then summarize examples from the scientific literature to assess how conservation goals were defined, vulnerability assessments performed and adaptation strategies incorporated into the design and management of existing or new MPAs. Our analysis revealed that 82% of real-world examples of climate change adaptation in MPA planning derive from tropical reefs, highlighting the need for research in other ecosystems and habitat types. We found contrasting recommendations for adaptation strategies at the planning stage, either focusing only on climate refugia, or aiming for representative protection of areas encompassing the full range of expected climate change impacts. Recommendations for MPA management were more unified and focused on adaptative management approaches.Lastly, we evaluate common barriers to adopting climate change adaptation strategies based on reviewing studies which conducted interviews with MPA managers and other conservation practitioners. This highlights a lack of scientific studies evaluating different adaptation strategies and shortcomings in current governance structures as two major barriers, and we discuss how these could be overcome. Our review provides a comprehensive synthesis of planning frameworks, case studies, adaptation strategies and management actions which can inform a more coordinated global effort to adapt existing and future MPA networks to continued climate change. K E Y W O R D Sadaptive management, biodiversity protection, climate change, connectivity, marine protected area network, marine reserve, systematic conservation planning, vulnerability

Aim Climate change is predicted to alter the distribution and abundance of marine species, including canopy‐forming seaweeds which provide important ecosystem functions and services. We asked whether continued warming will affect the distribution of six common canopy‐forming species: mid‐intertidal fucoids (Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus), low‐intertidal Irish moss (Chondrus crispus), subtidal laminarian kelps (Saccharina latissima, Laminaria digitata) and the invasive Codium fragile. Location Northwest Atlantic. Methods We used occurrence records and the correlative presence‐only species distribution model Maxent to determine present‐day distribution. This distribution was compared to each species’ warm‐water physiological thresholds indicating areas of stable or reduced growth and mortality. Present‐day models were then projected to mid‐century (2040–2050) and end‐century (2090–2100) using two contrasting carbon emission scenarios (RCP2.6 and 8.5) and two global climate models from CMIP5 based on changes in ocean temperatures. Results Projected range shifts were minimal under low emissions (RCP2.6), but substantial species‐specific range shifts were projected under high emissions (RCP8.5), with all species except C. fragile predicted to experience a northward shift in their southern (warm) edge of ≤406 km by the year 2100. Northward expansions outweighed southern extirpations for fucoids and C. crispus leading to overall range expansions, while range contractions were projected for kelps and C. fragile. Model projections generally agreed with physiological thresholds but were more conservative suggesting that range shifts for kelps may be underpredicted. Main conclusions Our results highlight the benefits to be gained from strong climate change mitigation (RCP2.6), which would limit changes in rocky shore community distribution and composition. The business‐as‐usual RCP8.5 scenario projected major range shifts, seaweed community reorganization and transitions in dominant species south of Newfoundland by 2100 (~47°N). As canopy‐forming seaweeds provide essential habitat, carbon storage, nutrient cycling and commercial value, understanding their response to continued climate warming is critical to inform coastal management and conservation planning.

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