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. 2022 May 6;8(18):eabl8929.
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abl8929. Epub 2022 May 4.

Participation, not penalties: Community involvement and equitable governance contribute to more effective multiuse protected areas

Robert Y Fidler  1 , Gabby N Ahmadia  2 , Amkieltiela  3   4   5 , Awaludinnoer  6 , Courtney Cox  7 , Estradivari  3   8   9 , Louise Glew  10 , Christian Handayani  3 , Shauna L Mahajan  10 , Michael B Mascia  11 , Fitryanti Pakiding  12 , Dominic A Andradi-Brown  2 , Stuart J Campbell  13 , Kelly Claborn  10   14 , Matheus De Nardo  10 , Helen E Fox  15 , David Gill  16 , Nur I Hidayat  17 , Raymond Jakub  13 , Duong T Le  16   18 , Purwanto  12   19 , Abel Valdivia  7 , Alastair R Harborne  1
Affiliations

Participation, not penalties: Community involvement and equitable governance contribute to more effective multiuse protected areas

Robert Y Fidler et al. Sci Adv. .

Abstract

Accelerating ecosystem degradation has spurred proposals to vastly expand the extent of protected areas (PAs), potentially affecting the livelihoods and well-being of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) worldwide. The benefits of multiuse PAs that elevate the role of IPLCs in management have long been recognized. However, quantitative examinations of how resource governance and the distribution of management rights affect conservation outcomes are vital for long-term sustainability. Here, we use a long-term, quasi-experimental monitoring dataset from four Indonesian marine PAs that demonstrates that multiuse PAs can increase fish biomass, but incorporating multiple governance principles into management regimes and enforcing rules equitably are critical to achieve ecological benefits. Furthermore, we show that PAs predicated primarily on enforcing penalties can be less effective than those where IPLCs have the capacity to engage in management. Our results suggest that well-governed multiuse PAs can achieve conservation objectives without undermining the rights of IPLCs.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.. Location of ecological sites and settlements across the Bird’s Head Seascape.
Ecological treatment sites (n = 59) are represented by white circles, ecological control sites (n = 28) are represented by green circles, and settlement sites (n = 32) are represented by yellow diamonds. MPAs are bounded in blue.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.. Relative importance of social, governance, and MPA indicators.
Variable importance by permutation importance (A and C) and drop-column importance (B and D). The colors of bars in (A) and (B) represent the category of each indicator, while the directionality of impacts of indicators on MPAEffect is represented by shapes to the right of each bar (positive: upward triangle; negative: downward triangle; variable: square). Color ramps in (C) and (D) represent the relative importance of each metric by drop-column importance and permutation importance, respectively.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.. Directionality of indicator impacts on MPAEffect.
Partial dependence plots of all indicators demonstrating their directional impacts on MPA performance in order of permutation importance. Y axes of partial dependence plots indicate the expected change in MPAEffect given a particular value of a predictor marginalized over values of all other predictors rather than the predicted MPAEffect for that predictor value. Plot colors indicate the category of each indicator: governance (blue), social (yellow), tenure (light blue), and MPA characteristics (gray).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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