A Global Assessment of Climate Change Adaptation in Marine Protected Area Management Plans

Abstract

Marine protected area (MPA) efficacy is increasingly challenged by climate change. Experts have identified clear climate change adaptation principles that MPA practitioners can incorporate into MPA management; however, adoption of these principles in MPA management remains largely unquantified. We conducted a text analysis of 647 English-language MPA management plans to assess the frequency with which they included climate change-related terms and terms pertaining to ecological, physical, and sociological components of an MPA system that may be impacted by climate change. Next, we manually searched 223 management plans to quantify the plans’ climate change robustness, which we defined as the degree of incorporation of common climate change adaptation principles. We found that climate change is inadequately considered in MPA management plans. Of all plans published since 2010, only 57% contained at least one of the climate change-related terms, “climate change,” “global warming,” “extreme events,” “natural variability,” or “climate variability.” The mean climate change robustness index of climate-considering management plans was 10.9 or 39% of a total possible score of 28. The United States was the only region that had plans with climate robustness indices of 20 or greater. By contrast, Canada lags behind other temperate jurisdictions in incorporating climate change adaptation analysis, planning, and monitoring into MPA management, with a mean climate change robustness index of 6.8. Climate change robustness scores have generally improved over time within the most common MPA designations in Oceania, the United Kingdom, and the United States, though the opposite is true in Canada. Our results highlight the urgent need for practitioners to incorporate climate change adaptation into MPA management in accordance with well-researched frameworks.

A Scientific Synthesis of Marine Protected Areas in the United States: Status and Recommendations

“…Marine protected areas have important but underutilized potential for contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation on local to global scales (Roberts et al, 2017;Tittensor et al, 2019;Wilson et al, 2020a;O'Regan et al, 2021). Furthermore, to continue to meet conservation goals in the face of current and future climate changes, MPAs should be designed and managed with the reality of climate impacts in mind.…”

“…Furthermore, inclusion of human needs and interests represents a major challenge in designing and implementing climate-ready MPAs (Basurto, 2013). Currently, very few MPAs or MPA networks globally integrate climate change into planning and design (Tittensor et al, 2019;O'Regan et al, 2021); however, some useful examples exist, including the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary in California, which incorporates a climate vulnerability assessment, recommendations, and implementation plan explicitly in its management plan (U.S. Department of Commerce et al, 2016); a recent assessment of climate impacts and recommendation for actions for supporting climate resilience of the California MPA network (Hofmann et al, 2021); and Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which produced one of the first climate vulnerability assessments that incorporates Indigenous perspectives (Kikiloi et al, 2017).…”

Groundfish biodiversity change in northeastern Pacific waters under projected warming and deoxygenation

“…Projections that capture local scale changes in species’ occurrences and abundances are particularly needed for the implementation of climate resilient management strategies such as establishing networks of marine protected areas and fisheries management areas (Wilson et al . 2020; O’Regan et al . 2021).…”

“…Although climate SDM studies often focus on range shift rates and distances, climate change will also impact species within their range boundaries (English et al 2021). Projections that capture local scale changes in species' occurrences and abundances are particularly needed for the implementation of climate resilient management strategies such as establishing networks of marine protected areas and fisheries management areas (Wilson et al 2020;O'Regan et al 2021). The recent development of regional ocean models that downscale climate projections at a high-resolution (e.g., Peña et al 2019;Holdsworth et al 2021) offers the opportunity to make projections at spatial resolutions (e.g., <3 km) that are relevant to marine spatial planning initiatives (Frazão Santos et al 2018;Gissi et al 2019;Friesen et al 2021).…”

“…For example, Canada is in the process of establishing a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) and refuges to provide long-term conservation of biodiversity (Environment and Climate Change Canada 2021). While climate change adaptation principles are largely lacking from Canadian MPA management plans to date(O'Regan et al 2021), our projections offer an opportunity to ensure that new protected areas in B.C. are situated in areas that will benefit groundfish and other species, both now and under future climates.…”