Conserving threatened marine species and biodiversity requires 40% ocean protection

Jefferson, Tamlin; Costello, Mark J.; Zhao, Qianshuo; Lundquist, Carolyn J.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109368

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…The United Nations (UN) is actively negotiating the implementation of MPAs in regions beyond national jurisdictions (i.e., the 'High Seas') (United Nations, 2017), regions that are particularly important for marine megafauna (Harrison et al, 2018;Beal et al, 2021;Davies et al, 2021b). Moreover, in 2016 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called to increase the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 from 10% to up to 40% of the ocean to be protected by 2030 (Hilborn, 2016;IUCN, 2016;Jefferson et al, 2021), and many countries and Tribal nations have come out in support of these goals (Allen et al, 2021;Sullivan-Stack et al, 2022). Large MPAs (> 100,000 km 2 ) have increasingly emerged over the last decade, in part to achieve those targets (O'Leary et al, 2018), though many of the large, highly protected MPAs are placed in remote regions where threats and human conflicts are limited, while MPAs closer to human populations are often more limited in protections offered (Sullivan-Stack et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas

Conners

Sisson

Agamboué³

et al. 2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Marine protected areas (MPAs), particularly large MPAs, are increasing in number and size around the globe in part to facilitate the conservation of marine megafauna under the assumption that large-scale MPAs better align with vagile life histories; however, this alignment is not well established. Using a global tracking dataset from 36 species across five taxa, chosen to reflect the span of home range size in highly mobile marine megafauna, we show most MPAs are too small to encompass complete home ranges of most species. Based on size alone, 40% of existing MPAs could encompass the home ranges of the smallest ranged species, while only < 1% of existing MPAs could encompass those of the largest ranged species. Further, where home ranges and MPAs overlapped in real geographic space, MPAs encompassed < 5% of core areas used by all species. Despite most home ranges of mobile marine megafauna being much larger than existing MPAs, we demonstrate how benefits from MPAs are still likely to accrue by targeting seasonal aggregations and critical life history stages and through other management techniques.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas

Conners

Sisson

Agamboué³

et al. 2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…For example, only approximately 2.7% of the ocean is highly protected (Sala et al, 2021). Initiatives, such as that of 30-by-30 (to protect at least 30% of the environment by 2030) 10 , try to cover this gap, although some studies determine that conserving threatened marine species and biodiversity requires 40% of ocean protection (Jefferson et al, 2021). Thus, extensive benefits could be achieved by replicating and/or scaling-up the solutions whose effectiveness has already been demonstrated.…”

Section: Prospects For the Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

#OceanOptimism: Balancing the Narrative About the Future of the Ocean

et al. 2022

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The ocean is facing multiple pressures from human activities, including the effects of climate change. Science has a prominent role in identifying problems and communicating these to society. However, scientists are also increasingly taking an active role in developing solutions, including strategies for adapting to and mitigating climate change, increasing food security, and reducing pollution. Transmitting these solutions to society changes our narrative about the ocean and motivates actions. The United Nations triple initiatives for this decade—the Sustainable Development Goals, the Decade on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration—provide the momentum for this change in narrative and focus. Here, we reflect on the search for solutions and the need for better ways of communicating science in a positive way. We synthesize insights from a summer school held during the COVID-19 pandemic and present some examples of successes and failures and the lessons learned from these.

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“…To sustainably manage and protect coastal and marine biodiversity, international organizations have proposed global marine conservation targets ranging from 10% to 50% (CBD/ COP/DEC/X/2, 2010; CBD/COP/15/5/Add.1; World Parks Congress, 2014; Sala et al, 2021). One study suggested that the top 30% of MPAs should be prioritized for marine biodiversity conservation (Zhao et al, 2020), while another found that at least 40% of the seas are required to protect threatened marine species and biodiversity (Jefferson et al, 2021). However, there are complex conservation efficiency and trade-offs in the siting of conservation priority areas.…”

Section: Conservation Priorities and Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Systematic conservation planning (SCP) can be used to identify conservation priority areas and design protected area networks, providing a new decision-making method for managers (Margules and Pressey, 2000). In recent years, SCP has been widely used in terrestrial (Cuesta et al, 2017;Jellinek, 2017) and oceanic conservation priority area planning (Zhao et al, 2020;Jefferson et al, 2021). Marine spatially explicit annealing (Marxan) is the most widely used software worldwide for SCP analysis (Christodoulou et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Setting Conservation Priorities for Marine Sharks in China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Seas: What Are the Benefits of a 30% Conservation Target?

Ding

et al. 2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Sharks play an important role in marine ecosystems as top predators and have been increasingly accepted in recent years as a group for priority conservation worldwide. However, as one of the regions with the highest marine shark species richness, there is still a limited understanding of shark diversity patterns and conservation needs in China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seas. In this study, we applied an ensemble species distribution model of five algorithms to investigate the diversity distribution patterns of 149 shark species in China and the ASEAN seas for the first time. A systematic conservation planning approach involving diversity, scarcity, and biogeographical distinctiveness was used to identify and compare conservation priority settings. Our results showed that bathymetry and dissolved oxygen were the most important variables contributing to shark distribution. The distribution pattern of shark species richness peaked on the continental shelves at 22–26°N, and a hotspot of shark diversity was identified around the Taiwan Strait. The spatial distribution of shark species in the nine orders and the 72 threatened shark species varied considerably. The existing marine protected area network only protects 2.1% of the ocean, 32.9% of the shark species, and 43.1% of the threatened species, highlighting a substantial conservation gap. Among the conservation priorities identified, the high conservation target scenario (30%) protects only 10%–15% more species than the low conservation target scenario (10%). However, under the high conservation target scenario, the conservation range of species tripled. Our results show that low conservation targets were only suitable for addressing the number of protected species, and that high targets would bring about improved outcomes for the number of protected species and the protected range of threatened species. Furthermore, planned priorities with a large clump pattern had slightly higher conservation achievements than those with small clumps. The results of this study will contribute to the development of a priority area network for sharks and provide a scientific basis for shark conservation and management in the China and ASEAN seas.

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Conserving threatened marine species and biodiversity requires 40% ocean protection

Cited by 27 publications

References 64 publications

Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas

Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas

#OceanOptimism: Balancing the Narrative About the Future of the Ocean

Setting Conservation Priorities for Marine Sharks in China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Seas: What Are the Benefits of a 30% Conservation Target?

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