A new paper led by Me'ira Mizrahi in JCU's Livelihoods Lab involved members of the Conservation Planning Group. Me'ira's paper reports on a global analysis that used national-level socio-economic data to identify where Shark Large MPAs are more likely to be successful in providing conservation benefits to sharks. The study produced multivariate indices to reflect … Continue reading New paper: Opportunities and challenges for Shark Large Marine Protected Areas
New paper: The residual nature of reserves in Brazil
Raísa Vieira, a visitor to, and collaborator with, the Conservation Planning Group, has recently published some important findings on Brazilian protected areas. Her national terrestrial analysis showed that Brazil's rather high percentage of overall reservation (18%) is skewed strongly toward the Amazon biome. In the nation's other biomes, not only do reserves cover much smaller … Continue reading New paper: The residual nature of reserves in Brazil
Should conservation be focused on highly threatened frontier areas, or pristine wilderness areas?
Despite the efforts of conservation scientists worldwide, much conservation today is based on belief systems, rather than empirical evidence of the impact of alternative conservation strategies (but see Wiik et al. 2019 for exciting new research using randomised control trials). Two of the most widespread belief systems in conservation are the contrasting beliefs that we … Continue reading Should conservation be focused on highly threatened frontier areas, or pristine wilderness areas?
Webinar – Learning from others: The new global conservation planning database
Presenter: Jorge Álvarez-Romero, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University UPDATED Date/Time: Wednesday, February 27, 3 pm in Eastern Time (US and Canada) Description: Creating a new marine conservation or management plan? Learn what others have done in the past – build on their research and experiences and how they addressed challenges – using … Continue reading Webinar – Learning from others: The new global conservation planning database
Strategies in scheduling marine protected area establishment in a network system
Instantaneous implementation of systematic conservation plans at regional scales is rare. More typically, planned actions are applied incrementally over periods of years or decades. This is certainly true in the central Philippines, where a network of 33 MPAs was gradually established between 1974 and 2008. In recent years there has been a rapidly growing literature on … Continue reading Strategies in scheduling marine protected area establishment in a network system
The Conservation Planning Database featured in Eco Magazine
You can find a great write up on the Conservation Planning Database in the latest issue of ECO Magazine. The same issue also features an article by Conservation Planing Group alumnus Heather Welch on ecological forecasts to improve fisheries sustainability.
New paper: conservation is about making a difference, but typical planning based on representation can make little difference compared to actively planning to avoid loss
A new paper, led by Lara Monteiro, a member of Rafael Loyola's research group at Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG), has made advances in planning for landscape and climate dynamics. The paper, co-authored with colleagues at UFG and the Conservation Planning Group's Bob Pressey, is now published online in Biodiversity and Conservation. The paper contrasted alternative planning strategies … Continue reading New paper: conservation is about making a difference, but typical planning based on representation can make little difference compared to actively planning to avoid loss
Research advances and gaps in marine planning: towards a global database in systematic conservation planning
Over the last three decades, hundreds of systematic conservation planning (SCP) studies were produced, yet we have no reliable way of finding information on SCP methods, trends, and progress. In particular, the number of studies added to the marine SCP literature has increased exponentially over the past 10 years (Figure 1). This accelerating output of … Continue reading Research advances and gaps in marine planning: towards a global database in systematic conservation planning
New paper: Predicted impact of community-based marine reserve design is comparable to a systematic approach
When planning a marine reserve, the efficacy of different approaches should be assessed by their potential impact. This research (Smallhorn-West et al. 2018) predicted the impact, or recovery of target species biomass, for different marine reserve configurations in the Vava'u island group in the Kingdom of Tonga. Specifically, we asked whether the … Continue reading New paper: Predicted impact of community-based marine reserve design is comparable to a systematic approach