The Pacific Ocean Library blog will spotlight new additions to the library’s collection of news articles, academic papers, and other materials useful to both researchers and general readers with an interest in Pacific Ocean issues. This debut post features a paper covering a key concern for marine conservation planning.

The Pacific Ocean Library blog will spotlight new additions to the library’s collection of news articles, academic papers, and other materials useful to both researchers and general readers with an interest in Pacific Ocean issues. This debut post features a paper covering a key concern for marine conservation planning.

The paper, entitled “A Mismatch of Scales: Challenges in planning for implementation of marine protected areas in the Coral Triangle,” was published in the journal Conservation Letters. It argues that local and regional approaches to protecting marine environments should be harmonized in comprehensive conservation planning. The authors propose a framework for building consensus about marine conservation issues among coastal communities and regional organizations. To minimize differences and maximize cooperation, they outline a new method of conservation planning for countries in the Coral Triangle, an area that covers 1.6 billion acres of the Pacific from the Solomon Islands to Malaysia.

 Historically, there have been two trends in policymaking related to marine conservation planning. The “scaling up” model starts by identifying traditional conservation practices among small communities as well as the needs of local populations. In the Philippines, for example, a small-scale conservation strategy has engaged the municipalities of Apo Island, leading to the creation of a highly successful marine protected area. Local governments on the island have collaborated to create a marine sanctuary to protect diving areas and fisheries. The success of the project inspired many other island communities in the Philippines to organize sanctuaries of their own.

Alternatively, some planners start by working with larger organizations like national governments and major NGOs, setting priorities at a more macro scale and using them to direct local policy. In the Lesser Sunda Ecoregion, an area in the southern end of the Coral Triangle, the Nature Conservancy has led a regional conservation planning effort that aims to include over 100 marine protected areas.

The “Mismatch of Scales” paper suggests a third way for marine conservation planning. Though both top-down and bottom-up approaches to marine conservation have achieved considerable success, the authors argue that a combined strategy can achieve even more significant results.

Planners can connect local and regional planning approaches through a framework that begins by making a clear delineation of the area where policy will be implemented. In the Coral Triangle, researchers propose that planners develop policies focused on biologically distinctive areas that are smaller than the overall ecosystem that surrounds them.

In selecting areas of focus, researchers tend to favor locations where there is a high level of data about local ecology, society and governance. However, in the Coral Triangle, there are few regions where a significant amount of data on these issues is available.  Data collection poses a major hurdle to conservation planning, but the researchers argue that policymakers should forge ahead, using the data that is currently available and collecting more information as they proceed. The paper goes on to suggest specific planning procedures to take into account local and regional considerations, ranging from socioeconomic conditions to ecological concerns.

The complete text of the paper can be found by visiting the Pacific Ocean Library, which offers a one-stop shop for researchers in the form of a searchable database of its diverse collection. “A Mismatch of Scales” is one of over six thousand articles and academic publications that are available through the library.