Mapping and Evaluating Marine Protected Areas and Ecosystem Services: A Transdisciplinary Delphi Forecasting Process Framework

Abstract

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are an important tool for management and conservation and play an increasingly recognised role in societal and human well-being. However, the assessment of MPAs often lacks a simultaneous consideration of ecological and socio-economic outcomes, and this can lead to misconceptions on the effectiveness of MPAs. In this perspective, we present a transdisciplinary approach based on the Delphi method for mapping and evaluating Marine Protected Areas for their ability to protect biodiversity while providing Ecosystem Services (ES) and related human well-being benefits – i.e., the ecosystem outputs from which people benefit. We highlight the need to include the human dimensions of marine protection in such assessments, given that the effectiveness of MPAs over time is conditional on the social, cultural and institutional contexts in which MPAs evolve. Our approach supports Ecosystem-Based Management and highlights the importance of MPAs in achieving restoration, conservation, and sustainable development objectives in relation to EU Directives such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD), and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

Human impacts and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region

“…All these different factors and interactions create the need for management and policies, at their different facets. The different human claims to exploiting marine resources like fisheries, aquaculture, shipping and wind farms must be managed and balanced by preservative efforts (protective regulations, marine protected areas; Belgrano et al, 2021). While the goal of management is sustainability, it follows the needs of society (e.g.…”

Public Perception of Ecosystem Services in the Marine Protected Areas of Northern Iloilo (Philippines)

“…As it is known that MPAs provide both use and nonuse benefits (Belgrano et al ., 2021), a multistage sampling strategy was used to collect information from all Concepcion locals, not just those living adjacent to MPAs. Inland barangays play an important role as they are closer to the town center than island/coastal communities, and therefore better influence decision making.…”

“…Likewise, final ES are those under provisioning ( e.g ., fish, other food) and cultural ( e.g ., valued seascapes). For further information, Belgrano et al . (2021) and Marcos et al .…”

Supporting places left to the sea: A place-based research agenda for regional coastal transformations in the blue economy

“…Social research methods are dominated by interviews (Hoerterer et al 2020), surveys (Aanesen et al 2023), and policy analyses (Daly et al 2021). A limited number of blue economy studies have also utilised the Delphi method to gauge stakeholder views on port management (Orive et al 2022) or MPA design (Belgrano et al 2021), and Q methodology to gauge the stance of stakeholders on the blue economy concept (Schutter et al 2021). Econometric research methods – often utilising ‘big data’ – have also been used to explore the performance of certain sectors and countries with regard their blue product imports and exports (Du and Ni 2023), and to determine aspects of blue economic development that influence per capita income and economic growth using data from the EU statistical database, Eurostat (Martínez-Vázquez et al 2023).…”

“…It is a democratic process involving co-learning and shared experiences to find commonality and consensus around particular matters (Heidkamp et al, 2023), and thus shares significant overlap with place-based policymaking approaches. Incidentally, some of the methods outlined above are particularly useful for transdisciplinary research, such as the Delphi method (Belgrano et al 2021).…”