Marine reserves are increasingly recognized as having linked social and ecological dynamics. This study investigates how the ecological performance of 56 marine reserves throughout the Philippines, Caribbean, and Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is related to both reserve design features and the socioeconomic characteristics in associated coastal communities. Ecological performance was measured as fish biomass in the reserve relative to nearby areas. Of the socioeconomic variables considered, human population density and compliance with reserve rules had the strongest effects on fish biomass, but the effects of these variables were region specific. Relationships between population density and the reserve effect on fish biomass were negative in the Caribbean, positive in the WIO, and not detectable in the Philippines. Differing associations between population density and reserve effectiveness defy simple explanation but may depend on human migration to effective reserves, depletion of fish stocks outside reserves, or other social factors that change with population density. Higher levels of compliance reported by resource users was related to higher fish biomass in reserves compared with outside, but this relationship was only statistically significant in the Caribbean. A heuristic model based on correlations between social, cultural, political, economic, and other contextual conditions in 127 marine reserves showed that high levels of compliance with reserve rules were related to complex social interactions rather than simply to enforcement of reserve rules. Comparative research of this type is important for uncovering the complexities surrounding human dimensions of marine reserves and improving reserve management.coral reef | human-environment interactions | socioeconomic | social-ecological system | marine protected area H uman influences on marine ecosystems are pervasive (1) and strong (2-5). Marine reserves, which prohibit extractive activities such as fishing, are one of the key management measures used to mitigate anthropogenic impacts on marine systems. Marine reserves vary considerably in design, maintenance, and performance, in part because they are at the interface of complex social and ecological linkages. Social, economic, cultural, and political conditions can have profound influences on the ways that societies organize to use and manage resources, including the development, placement, and implementation of nature reserves (6). Ecologically, marine reserves often are isolated islands of low human use within larger areas of extensive and often intense resource extraction and habitat modification. The complexity of these social-ecological interactions may produce site-specific and surprising responses but may also be driven by predictable resource needs along gradients of human population and development (7).The success of marine reserves has both social and ecological dimensions, and recent multidisciplinary investigations are uncovering important roles for both (8-10). The empirical research that links ...
Planning of marine protected areas (MPAs) is highlighted in the conservation literature but is not explored in much detail. Many researchers acknowledge the importance of involving the public in MPA planning, but there is limited guidance on how to do this in an effective manner. I present a framework for involving the public in planning of U.S. MPAs. Derived from empirically and theoretically based research on public participation in U.S. natural resource management, this framework is composed of factors that influence the success of participatory processes: active participant involvement, complete information exchange, fair decision making, efficient administration, and positive participant interactions. Processes incorporating these factors will produce decisions that are more likely to be supported by stakeholders, meet management objectives, and fulfill conservation goals. This framework contributes to the MPA social science literature and responds to calls in the conservation literature to increase the use of social science research to inform conservation decision making. Key Words: ecosystem-based management, governance of marine protected areas, public participation, stakeholder involvement Más Allá de la Biogeografía: un Marco para Involucrar al Público en la Planificación deÁreas Marinas Protegidas en E.U.A. Resumen: La planificación deáreas marinas protegidas (AMP) resalta en la literatura de conservación perono es explorada en mucho detalle. Muchos investigadores reconocen la importancia de involucrar al público en la planificación de AMP, pero las directrices para hacerlo de manera efectiva es limitada. Presento un marco para involucrar al público en la planificación de AMP en E.U.A. Este marco, derivado de investigación empírica y teórica de la participación del público en el manejo de recursos naturales en E.U.A., esta compuesto por factores que influyen en eléxito de procesos participativos: intervención activa de usufructuarios; intercambio completo de información; toma de decisiones justas; administración eficiente e interacciones positivas de participantes. Los procesos que incorporan estos factores producirán decisiones que tendrán más posibilidades de ser apoyadas por los usufructuarios, de alcanzar objetivos de manejo y cumplir metas de conservación. Este marco contribuye a la literatura de ciencias sociales de AMP y responde a llamados en la literatura de conservación para incrementar el uso de investigación de ciencias sociales para proporcionar información a la toma de decisiones de conservación.Palabras Clave: control deáreas marinas protegidas, intervención de usufructuarios, manejo basado en ecosistemas, participación del público
Throughout the wider Caribbean, marine protected areas (MPAs) are rapidly gaining momentum as a conservation tool, but management performance of existing MPAs is considered low. To enhance MPA management performance, stakeholders are increasingly being invited to discuss, debate, and develop rules about how people should interact with marine ecosystems. Using social and ecological data from a rapid assessment of 31 MPAs and their associated communities in the wider Caribbean, this study investigates stakeholder participation in MPA planning and management, and how participants' views of process quality relate to MPA performance. Findings indicate that (1) participants tended to be male, resource users, participate in community organizations, and have lived fewer years in the community associated with an MPA than non-participants; (2) simply participating was not associated with perceptions of the social and ecological performance of MPAs, however, perceptions of process quality were positively related to views of performance; and (3) resource users' perceptions of an MPA's ecological performance were likely shaped by a variety of factors. Conservation practitioners should be aware that participatory MPA processes are complex and require careful planning if they are to contribute positively to marine conservation efforts.
SUMMARYBecause the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively analyse human behaviour and knowledge systems in this context. In this subject review, we summarize key ways in which the environmental social sciences can better inform fisheries management policy and practice and marine conservation in the Anthropocene. We argue that environmental social scientists are particularly well positioned to synergize research to fill the gaps between: (1) local behaviours/needs/worldviews and marine resource management and biological conservation concerns; and (2) large-scale drivers of planetary environmental change (globalization, affluence, technological change, etc.) and local cognitive, socioeconomic, cultural and historical processes that shape human behaviour in the marine environment. To illustrate this, we synthesize the roles of various environmental social science disciplines in better understanding the interaction between humans and tropical marine ecosystems in developing nations where issues arising from humancoastal interactions are particularly pronounced. We focus on: (1) the application of the environmental social sciences in marine resource management and conservation; (2) the development of 'new' socially equitable marine conservation; (3) repopulating the seascape; (4) incorporating multi-scale dynamics of marine social-ecological systems; and (5) envisioning the future of marine resource management and conservation for producing policies and projects for comprehensive and successful resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.