Encouraging youth engagement in marine protected areas: A survey of best practices in Canada

Abstract

A holistic approach to stakeholder participation is emerging where youth are increasingly being recognized as core stakeholders in community‐based conservation efforts. A growing number of youth‐focused marine conservation initiatives and representation at international marine conservation conventions demonstrate that youth are taking an active role in marine conservation worldwide. This paper surveys current best practices in youth engagement in marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canada, across 10 different engagement strategies. These are: facilitate learning through experiential education; include studies of MPAs in academic and community programmes; utilize multimedia opportunities, including social media, film, website, and apps; provide meaningful volunteer opportunities; deliver professional development sessions for youth initiative building; create youth councils to assist organizations in an advisory role; hire youth for employment in internships, co‐ops and junior positions within organizations; showcase young people as Youth Ambassadors of MPAs; share opportunities through effective outreach and promotion; and, integrate under‐represented perspectives in MPAs. Recommendations are drawn from the case studies within each engagement strategy. Collectively, they offer insight into the variety of ways the international community can support, highlight and advance youth participation in MPAs.

Pathway to mainstream youth engagement and intergenerational partnership in nature conservation

“…Although the intention to address this deficiency was enshrined in the Brundtland report -Our Common Future (Brundtland 1987) -the impacts have yet to match the intentions. However, the trend to include diverse stakeholders has been positive, bringing youth engagement as a core approach to achieve present and future conservation goals (Chen et al 2019;Pardo et al 2020). In this article, we highlight the findings and recommendations of a report -Review: youth engagement and intergenerational partnership across IUCN (Zurba et al 2021) -commissioned by the IUCN and applicable to other conservation organizations.…”

“…However, the trend to include diverse stakeholders has been positive, bringing youth engagement as a core approach to achieve present and future conservation goals (Chen et al . 2019; Pardo et al . 2020).…”

Assessment of marine protected areas in the East China Sea using a management effectiveness tracking tool

“…Popularize ocean-related knowledge for youth, raise citizens' awareness of marine ecological protection, promote public participation. Including citizens in the construction of MPAs so that they can become part of the construction of MPAs (Chen et al, 2019;Zhang, 2020); 2) Considering the balance of local economic and ecological environment development (Zeng et al, 2016), that can avoid over-exploitation of the marine ecological environment by vigorously developing an aquatic product processing industry and guiding fishermen to switch to processing; and 3) Reasonably carry out implementation of marine engineering, strengthen research on the impact of large water-related projects on protected areas (Gao et al, 2007). Discussing and proposing corresponding protection countermeasures, and manage the feasibility demonstration, implementation, and post-project evaluation.…”

How Can Participating in a Forest Community and Citizen Science Program Support Elementary School Students’ Understanding of Socio-Ecological Systems?

“…However, special attention must be paid to the design of CCS programs to provide opportunities for students to be involved in and position themselves as actors in the many steps of the scientific process [40]. Previous research has explored this to understand better what might enable or constrain student participation [41][42][43][44]. Together, these authors found three factors to be important: (1) contextual factors, like facilitators and available roles [41]; (2) setting norms and cultures (i.e., how are participants positioned) [42]; and (3) clear communication of program goals and objectives [43].…”

“…Previous research has explored this to understand better what might enable or constrain student participation [41][42][43][44]. Together, these authors found three factors to be important: (1) contextual factors, like facilitators and available roles [41]; (2) setting norms and cultures (i.e., how are participants positioned) [42]; and (3) clear communication of program goals and objectives [43]. Well-designed programs have been found to impact students' development of science identity, self-efficacy, and interest [42,45], as well as learning and agency [5].…”