No abstract

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) has increasingly been used to prioritize conservation actions, including the design of new protected areas to achieve conservation objectives. Over the last 10 years, the number of marine SCP studies has increased exponentially, yet there is no structured or reliable way to find information on methods, trends, and progress. The rapid growth in methods and marine applications warrants an updated analysis of the literature, as well as reflection on the need for continuous and systematic documentation of SCP exercises in general. To address these gaps, we developed a database to document SCP exercises and populated it with 155 marine SCP exercises found in the primary literature. Based on our review, we provide an update on global advances and trends in marine SCP literature. We found accelerating growth in the number of studies over the past decade, with increasing consideration of socioeconomic variables, land-sea planning, and ecological connectivity. While several studies aimed to inform conservation decisions, we found little evidence of input from practitioners. There are important gaps in geographic coverage and little correspondence with areas most threatened. Five countries lead most studies, but their networks suggest potential for capacity building through collaborations. The varying quality and detail in documentation of studies confirmed the limited opportunities to develop and assess the application of best practice in conservation planning. A global database to track the development, implementation, and impact of SCP applications can thus provide numerous benefits. Our database constitutes an important step towards the development of a centralized repository of information on planning exercises and can serve several roles to advance SCP theory and practice: it facilitates assessing geographic coverage and gaps; scientists and practitioners can access information to identify trends in the use of data, methods, and tools; reviewers and editors of journals can assess whether studies have covered important literature and developments; donors and non-government organizations can identify regions needing further work; and practitioners and policy-makers can learn from previous plans.

Wallis, Alofi, and Futuna are three small islands in the central Pacific Ocean, characterized by different reef geomorphologies. Following a request from the local Environment Service, we developed an indicative conservation plan for each island with two objectives: (1) representing 20% of the extent of each coral reef habitat within no-take areas while (2) keeping all subsistence fishing grounds open for extraction. The first objective was more ambitious than the current Convention on Biological Diversity (Aichi) targets. We found that both objectives could not be achieved simultaneously and that large compromises are needed. Due to the small size of these islands, and the dependence of local communities on coral reef resources, the fishery objective significantly limited the extent of most habitats available for conservation. The problem is exacerbated if the conservation plan uses larger conservation units and more complex habitat typologies. Our results indicate that international conservation guidelines should be carefully adapted to small Pacific islands and that incentives to make feasible the necessary reductions in available fishing grounds will probably be needed.