Ethics of Conservation Triage

Wilson, Kerrie A.; Law, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.3389/fevo.2016.00112

Cited by 41 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Other decision‐making methods are also available, such as the Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (http://www.inffer.org), the project prioritization protocol (Joseph, Maloney, & Possingham, ), or Bayesian logic (Stewart et al, ), but the NE concept may become another tool for conservation prioritization. The NE concept and triage are not universally adopted because these concepts can lead to the passive acceptance of the lack of resources assigned to conservation, which may foster negative conservation outcomes, such as species extinction (Jachowski & Kesler, ; Parr et al, ) and touches on values associated with conservation triage (Wilson & Law, ). In this sense, the well‐articulated and valid points against the NE concept by Murcia et al () and Aronson et al () mirror concerns expressed against triage in environmental management.…”

Section: Novel Marine Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A triage framework for managing novel, hybrid, and designed marine ecosystems

Schläppy

Hobbs

2019

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The novel ecosystem (NE) concept has been discussed in terrestrial restoration ecology over the last 15 years but has not yet found much traction in the marine context. Against a background of unprecedented environmental change, managers of natural marine resources have portfolios full of altered systems for which restoration to a previous historical baseline may be impractical for ecological, social, or financial reasons. In these cases, the NE concept is useful for weighing options and emphasizes the risk of doing nothing by forcing questions regarding the value of novelty and how it can best be managed in the marine realm. Here, we explore how the concept fits marine ecosystems. We propose a scheme regarding how the NE concept could be used as a triage framework for use in marine environments within the context of a decision framework that explicitly considers changed ecosystems and whether restoration is the best or only option. We propose a conceptual diagram to show where marine NEs fit in the continuum of unaltered to shifted marine ecosystems. Overall, we suggest that the NE concept is of interest to marine ecologists and resource managers because it introduces a new vocabulary for considering marine systems that have been changed through human actions but have not shifted to an alternate stable state. Although it remains to be seen whether the concept of marine NEs leads to better conservation and restoration decisions, we posit that the concept may help inform management decisions in an era of unprecedented global marine change.

show abstract

Section: Novel Marine Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A triage framework for managing novel, hybrid, and designed marine ecosystems

Schläppy

Hobbs

2019

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, we urge careful consideration of the consequences of applying this framework at a global scale. Even though ‘conservation triage’ is increasingly promoted as a strategy for prioritizing limited resources to address increasing pressures on natural systems (Bottrill et al, ; Wilson & Law, ), global scale triage (Wilson et al, ) based solely on ecological features such as biodiversity (Roberts et al, ) and endemism (Hughes et al, ) has the pitfall of overlooking regions with social, economic, or cultural value. Given the importance of reefs for food security, it is neither practical nor ethical to ‘write off’ large regions of the world's reefs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planning for the future: Incorporating global and local data to prioritize coral reef conservation

Harris

Estradivari

Fox

et al. 2017

Aquatic Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract1. It is necessary, yet challenging, to manage coral reefs to simultaneously address a suite of global and local stressors that act over the short and long term. Therefore, managers need practical guidance on prioritizing the locations and types of conservation that most efficiently address their goals using limited resources.2. This study is one of the first examples of a vulnerability assessment for coral reefs that uses downscaled global climate change projections and local anthropogenic stress data to prioritize coral reef locations for conservation investment. Vulnerability was separated into manageable and unmanageable components (bleaching likelihood and local anthropogenic stressors, respectively), and the highest priority was given to places with low levels of unmanageable threats and high levels of manageable threats. Following prioritization, resilience characteristics were derived from standard reef monitoring data and used to identify the specific conservation strategies most likely to succeed given local ecological conditions and threats.3. Using Indonesian coral reefs as a case study, 9.1% of total coral reef area was identified as of high conservation priority, including parts of Raja Ampat, Sulawesi, and Sumatra that are not currently included in marine protected areas (MPAs).4. Existing MPAs tend to be located in areas less threatened by local-scale anthropogenic activities, which has implications for both the implementation costs and the likely impact of conservation investment. This approach employs common and publicly available data and can therefore be replicated wherever managers face the familiar challenge of allocating limited conservation resources in the face of rapid global change and uncertainty.

show abstract

“…The gap between resources available and resources needed for conservation is widening [90,91]. Consequently, investment prioritisation is necessary [92,93]. How this is done needs to be anchored in the problem framing and by clearly defined ecological, economic and social objectives.…”

Section: Challenge 3: Prioritisation and Tradeoffs-we Can't Save Evermentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to help coral reefs under global change—A complex decision challenge

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change is impacting coral reefs now. Recent pan-tropical bleaching events driven by unprecedented global heat waves have shifted the playing field for coral reef management and policy. While best-practice conventional management remains essential, it may no longer be enough to sustain coral reefs under continued climate change. Nor will climate change mitigation be sufficient on its own. Committed warming and projected reef decline means solutions must involve a portfolio of mitigation, best-practice conventional management and coordinated restoration and adaptation measures involving new and perhaps radical interventions, including local and regional cooling and shading, assisted coral evolution, assisted gene flow, and measures to support and enhance coral recruitment. We propose that proactive research and development to expand the reef management toolbox fast but safely, combined with expedient trialling of promising interventions is now urgently needed, whatever emissions trajectory the world follows. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of embracing new interventions in a race against time, including their risks and uncertainties. Ultimately, solutions to the climate challenge for coral reefs will require consideration of what society wants, what can be achieved technically and economically, and what opportunities we have for action in a rapidly closing window. Finding solutions that work for coral reefs and people will require exceptional levels of coordination of science, management and policy, and open engagement with society. It will also require compromise, because reefs will change under climate change despite our best interventions. We argue that being clear about society's priorities, and understanding both the opportunities and risks that come with an expanded toolset, can help us make the most of a challenging situation. We offer a conceptual model to help reef managers frame decision problems and objectives, and to guide effective strategy choices in the face of complexity and uncertainty.

show abstract

Ethics of Conservation Triage

Cited by 41 publications

References 47 publications

A triage framework for managing novel, hybrid, and designed marine ecosystems

A triage framework for managing novel, hybrid, and designed marine ecosystems

Planning for the future: Incorporating global and local data to prioritize coral reef conservation

Interventions to help coral reefs under global change—A complex decision challenge

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About