Designating Spatial Priorities for Marine Biodiversity Conservation in the Coral Triangle

Abstract

To date, most marine protected areas (MPAs) have been designated on an ad hoc basis. However, a comprehensive regional and global network should be designed to be representative of all aspects of biodiversity, including populations, species, and biogenic habitats. A good exemplar would be the Coral Triangle (CT) because it is the most species rich area in the ocean but only 2% of its area is in any kind of MPA. Our analysis consisted of five different groups of layers of biodiversity features: biogenic habitat, species richness, species of special conservation concern, restricted range species, and areas of importance for sea turtles. We utilized the systematic conservation planning software Zonation as a decision-support tool to ensure representation of biodiversity features while balancing selection of protected areas based on the likelihood of threats. Our results indicated that the average representation of biodiversity features within the existing MPA system is currently about 5%. By systematically increasing MPA coverage to 10% of the total area of the CT, the average representation of biodiversity features within the MPA system would increase to over 37%. Marine areas in the Halmahera Sea, the outer island arc of the Banda Sea, the Sulu Archipelago, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Malaita Islands were identified as priority areas for the designation of new MPAs. Moreover, we recommended that several existing MPAs be expanded to cover additional biodiversity features within their adjacent areas, including MPAs in Indonesia (e.g., in the Birds Head of Papua), the Philippines (e.g., in the northwestern part of the Sibuyan Sea), Malaysia (e.g., in the northern part of Sabah), Papua New Guinea (e.g., in the Milne Bay Province), and the Solomon Islands (e.g., around Santa Isabel Island). An MPA system that covered 30% of the CT would include 65% of the biodiversity features. That just two-thirds of biodiversity was represented by one-third of the study area supports calls for at least 30% of the ocean to be in no-fishing MPA. This assessment provides a blueprint for efficient gains in marine conservation through the extension of the current MPA system in the CT region. Moreover, similar data could be compiled for other regions, and globally, to design ecologically representative MPAs.

Coral Reef Community Changes in Karimunjawa National Park, Indonesia: Assessing the Efficacy of Management in the Face of Local and Global Stressors

“…Karimunjawa National Park represents one of the world's oldest marine parks [15,16]. Located 120 km north of Semarang in central Java, Indonesia, the park spans an archipelago of 27 coral reef-fringed islands [17] (Figure 1).…”

“…Karimunjawa National Park recently ranked in the top third of threatened marine parks in Indonesia, with its reefs scoring highly due to local pressures (a "high vulnerability" anthropogenic threat score, ranking 39/167), in addition to a high likelihood of being exposed to climate change related heat stress compared other areas across the Coral Triangle ("medium vulnerability" climate pressure score ranking 49/167) [16]. These combined local and climate threats are also what make the area a top conservation priority: management action to protect reefs, as well as benefitting fish spawning aggregations and sea turtles, is important to improve resilience to predicted climate stress [13].…”

“…Karimunjawa's seawater is predicted to warm faster than other areas regionally, meaning its reefs are more likely to experience coral bleaching compared to other reefs in the Coral Triangle [13,16,35]. All three global coral bleaching events impacted corals in the park: the 1997-1998 global coral bleaching led to coral mortality rates of 50-60%, and mass bleaching was also reported in 2010.…”

Mangrove Ecosystem Connectivity Based on Oceanographic System in Biawak Island, West Java, Indonesia

“…Ocean currents, wind pattern, tides are the main force to spread particle include larvae and propagules. Hence, comprehensive regional and network design is needed to represent all aspects of biodiversity, including population, species, and biogenic aspects [14].…”

Integrated ocean management for a sustainable ocean economy

“…When building strong local stakeholder involvement, it is important to design well-managed engagement processes that consider the cultural, scientific, societal, economic and political contexts that underpin robust stakeholder participation 49 . An example of such an approach is the Coral Triangle Initiative, a formal intergovernmental partnership 26,50 . We suggest that governments support the active involvement of local and traditional communities in all stages of IOM planning and development at the local level.…”