Blueprints of Effective Biodiversity and Conservation Knowledge Products That Support Marine Policy

Abstract

Biodiversity and conservation data are generally costly to collect, particularly in the marine realm. Hence, data collected for a given-often scientific-purpose are occasionally contributed toward secondary needs, such as policy implementation or other types of decision-making. However, while the quality and accessibility of marine biodiversity and conservation data have improved over the past decade, the ways in which these data can be used to develop and implement relevant management and conservation measures and actions are not always explicit. For this reason, there are a number of scientifically-sound datasets that are not used systematically to inform policy and decisions. Transforming these marine biodiversity and conservation datasets into knowledge products that convey the information required by policy-and decision-makers is an important step in strengthening knowledge exchange across the science-policy interface. Here, we identify seven characteristics of a selection of online biodiversity and conservation knowledge products that contribute to their ability to support policy-and decision-making in the marine realm (as measured by e.g., mentions in policy resolutions/decisions, or use for reporting under selected policy instruments; use in high-level screening for areas of biodiversity importance). These characteristics include: a clear policy mandate; established networks of collaborators; iterative co-design of a user-friendly interface; standardized, comprehensive and documented methods with quality assurance; consistent capacity and succession planning; accessible data and value-added products that are fit-for-purpose; and metrics of use collated and reported. The outcomes of this review are intended to: (a) support data creators/owners/providers in designing and curating biodiversity and conservation knowledge products that have Weatherdon et al.Blueprints of Effective Knowledge Products greater influence, and hence impact, in policy-and decision-making, and (b) provide recommendations for how decision-and policy-makers can support the development, implementation, and sustainability of robust biodiversity and conservation knowledge products through the framing of marine policy and decision-making frameworks.

Access to Marine Genetic Resources (MGR): Raising Awareness of Best-Practice Through a New Agreement for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)

“…For example EOVs/EBVs aim to progress the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG14 10 (Anderson et al, 2017). As such these frameworks directly link science and policy, and further development of these links is being discussed (Geijzendorffer et al, 2016;Anderson et al, 2017;Weatherdon et al, 2017;Benson et al, 2018;Wetzel et al, 2018). Quality and timely data is critical to environmental monitoring (Benson et al, 2018).…”

Assessing the Effectiveness of Coastal Marine Protected Area Management: Four Learned Lessons for Science Uptake and Upscaling

“…Monitoring and assessment should guide management interventions in the short and medium terms. Local monitoring and assessment of biodiversity generally also lay the foundations for higher-level (national and international) assessment needs through successive upscaling, e.g., for evaluating the good ecological status in European seas (European Union [EU], 2008) or for supporting international reporting or assessment (Convention for Biological Diversity [CBD], 2014;United Nations [UN], 2016, among others, see Weatherdon et al, 2017 for a list of international treaties and policies in need of data for assessments).…”

Changes in ocean health in British Columbia from 2001 to 2016

“…Growing coastal populations and uses of the ocean have led to increasing impacts from fishing, pollution, climate change and a host of other stressors that threaten the sustainable provision of marine resources and the communities that depend on them [1,2]. Effective marine conservation must balance protection of marine ecosystems with the social and economic needs of coastal communities, informed by reliable and repeated assessment of ecological, economic, and social impacts at temporal and spatial scales relevant to policymakers [3]. Here we apply the Ocean Health Index (OHI) framework [4,5] over a 15-year period to examine the effects of marine conservation policy, particularly marine protected areas (MPAs) and management of fisheries and aquaculture, on the ocean health of British Columbia (BC), Canada (OHIBC).…”