Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of conservation planning at different scales: the Coral Triangle as a case study

Abstract

Each year, hundreds of conservation plans are developed to direct limited resources toward conservation in priority areas. Conservation plans are developed at different levels, defined here as points on a range of spatial extent varying from global to local. However, approaches to integrate plans effectively across levels remain elusive. To plan across multiple levels most effectively, the relative strengths and weaknesses of planning at different levels must be understood. Taking the Coral Triangle region of the western Pacific Ocean as a case study, we apply an adapted social-ecological system (SES) framework to assess the scalar coverage of conservation plans, i.e., the extent to which plans developed at one level adequately consider the social and ecological levels and components (i.e., resource units, resource systems, governance systems, actors) of an SES. No conservation plans we assessed had complete cross-level coverage. Plans most adequately addressed social and ecological components at the same level of planning and, to a lesser extent, lower levels. In line with previous literature suggesting that social factors are most relevant at local levels, we found that local-level plans engaged with the greatest number of stakeholder groups, whereas higher level plans more adequately addressed ecological components.Given that it appears more practicable for higher level plans to consider components at lower levels, the onus should fall on higher level planning to link to lower levels. Achieving complete cross-level coverage will require vertical interactions between planning processes at different levels, and conceiving of planning processes across all levels as connected planning systems. We demonstrate how an adapted SES framework can be used by conservation planners to assess the cross-level coverage of their own plans and to formulate appropriate conservation objectives to address social and ecological components at different levels.Ecology and Society 24(4): 24 https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol24/iss4/art24/

Influence of Spatial Extent on Contemporary and Future Threat Evaluation for Imperiled Fluvial Fishes and Mussels

“…Therefore, for this analysis, we assumed that mussel and fish responses to disturbances were similar. However, this may not be an unreasonable assumption because Unionid mussels are dependent on obligate fish host species and fish host characteristics can influence mussel distributions [35].…”

“…This includes a mismatch in spatial extent between studies and conservation planning and decision-making [33]. Studies have rarely considered multiple spatial extents [34], despite advantages to conservation planning that incorporates a multi-extent approach [35]. Providing information for a variety of relevant spatial extents can allow for the evaluation of differing context-dependent management options [32] and improve understanding of how threats such as habitat connectivity loss [36] or climate change [37] vary according to spatial extent.…”

Post-2020 Kunming 30% target can easily protect all endemic sharks and rays in the Western Indian Ocean and more

“…Systematic conservation planning is a widely used paradigm to identify spatial priorities and guide area-based management strategies, such as MPAs. Conservation planning is a process by which limited resources are allocated in space and time to conserve biodiversity, ecosystem services, and other valuable attributes of the natural environment, and/or address socioeconomic concerns and objectives 29 .…”

“…Systematic conservation planning is a widely used paradigm to identify spatial priorities and guide area-based management strategies, such as MPAs. Conservation planning is a process by which limited resources are allocated in space and time to conserve biodiversity, ecosystem services, and other valuable attributes of the natural environment, and/or address socioeconomic concerns and objectives 29 . With the numerous and likely conflicting marine conservation and development objectives across the WIO region (such as sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and fisheries management) 30 , conservation planning can help to identify spatial priorities for endemic sharks and rays while also taking into consideration social and economic objectives 31,32 .…”

Developing a model for the integration of Bajau traditional ecological knowledge in the management of locally managed marine area: a case study of Wakatobi regency, Indonesia

“…The development of this ecological protection aims to connect a multistakeholder in a social-ecological system to protect species, territories, or the involvement of local knowledge. This extended concept of environmental protection must commence from institutional planning in a conservation program to monitoring and evaluation (Balbar & Metaxas, 2019;Cheok et al, 2019;Jones et al, 2013). To develop this attribute in the Wakatobi context, there are four indicators developed in this ecological protection, namely: (…”