Research advances and gaps in marine planning: towards a global database in systematic conservation planning

Abstract

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) has increasingly been used to prioritize conservation actions, including the design of new protected areas to achieve conservation objectives. Over the last 10 years, the number of marine SCP studies has increased exponentially, yet there is no structured or reliable way to find information on methods, trends, and progress. The rapid growth in methods and marine applications warrants an updated analysis of the literature, as well as reflection on the need for continuous and systematic documentation of SCP exercises in general. To address these gaps, we developed a database to document SCP exercises and populated it with 155 marine SCP exercises found in the primary literature. Based on our review, we provide an update on global advances and trends in marine SCP literature. We found accelerating growth in the number of studies over the past decade, with increasing consideration of socioeconomic variables, land-sea planning, and ecological connectivity. While several studies aimed to inform conservation decisions, we found little evidence of input from practitioners. There are important gaps in geographic coverage and little correspondence with areas most threatened. Five countries lead most studies, but their networks suggest potential for capacity building through collaborations. The varying quality and detail in documentation of studies confirmed the limited opportunities to develop and assess the application of best practice in conservation planning. A global database to track the development, implementation, and impact of SCP applications can thus provide numerous benefits. Our database constitutes an important step towards the development of a centralized repository of information on planning exercises and can serve several roles to advance SCP theory and practice: it facilitates assessing geographic coverage and gaps; scientists and practitioners can access information to identify trends in the use of data, methods, and tools; reviewers and editors of journals can assess whether studies have covered important literature and developments; donors and non-government organizations can identify regions needing further work; and practitioners and policy-makers can learn from previous plans.

Marine spatial planning on the Caribbean island of Montserrat: Lessons for data‐limited small islands

“…Montserrat's marine environment has been severely impacted by ash and pyroclastic flows from the Soufrière Hills Volcano, and this impact was indirectly included in the zoning process because the existing volcanic exclusion zones were part of the marine spatial plans. Integrating land-sea interactions into MSP is still a relatively new area of research and practice ( Alvarez- Romero et al, 2011;Alvarez-Romero et al, 2018). It has considerable importance for small islands where sedimentation and pollution from coastal development, farming, and a lack of proper sewage systems can result in significant impacts on the marine environment (Amato, Bishop, Glenn, Dulai, & Smith, 2016;Risk, 2014).…”

Synergies between the key biodiversity area and systematic conservation planning approaches

“…Systematic conservation planning has been used around the world to identify priority conservation areas in a range of different contexts (Álvarez-Romero et al, 2018;Sinclair et al, 2018). This means the process of defining the context varies case-by-case and is the first step in any prioritization process (Knight et al, 2006;Margules & Pressey, 2000).…”

“…Systematic conservation planning is an operational model for identifying and implementing the conservation of priority areas (Knight, Cowling, & Campbell, 2006;Pressey & Bottrill, 2009). It has been used in dozens of countries to help prioritize the expansion or management of protected area networks and design conservation landscapes and marine spatial plans (Álvarez-Romero et al, 2018;Sinclair et al, 2018). The KBA approach identifies sites that "contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity" based on a set of globally standardized criteria and quantitative thresholds (IUCN, 2016).…”

Strengthening the synergies among global biodiversity targets to reconcile conservation and socio‐economic demands

“…Spatial conservation prioritization provides an analytical and conceptual framework to identify areas of high biodiversity value and low cost for protection (Ferrier & Wintle, 2009). Although the use of this framework for the design of MPA networks has increased over the last decades, frameworks have often been based solely on biological and ecological data ( Alvarez-Romero et al, 2018). Integrated planning for both biodiversity and development goals can be successful if undertaken through multicriteria analyses (Di Minin et al, 2013;Moilanen et al, 2011).…”