Peer-reviewed publications

Co-designing research is increasingly recognized as a way to advance research that is equitable and inclusive, with greater potential for “real-world” impact. Co-designed research can have numerous benefits, but real challenges can also arise in co-design processes. We provide examples of our experience as collaborators from the Global North and Global South; highlighting both successes and failures with a focus on five thematic areas: funding and associated power dynamics, differences in research culture and training, diverse interests and needs, authorship norms, and the balance of inclusion. Within these themes, we share examples where even with good intent, co-design research went awry as well as good practices and habits we have learned that helped us improve our collaborations. Co-designing research will only work if we continuously challenge existing norms that can undermine these processes. If we as a scientific community can continue to learn from and adapt our co-design efforts, we can create much more collaborative, inclusive, and impactful research.

As marine spatial planning (MSP) continues to gain global prominence as an approach to ocean governance, planners and other stakeholders are eager to evaluate its social and ecological outcomes and to better understand whether plans are achieving their intended results in an equitable and cost-efficient manner. While a plan’s outcomes for marine environments and coastal communities may be of particular interest, these results cannot be separated from planning processes. The field has yet to fully develop the guidance necessary for this critical consideration of how features of an MSP process and external factors interact with plan performance and outcomes. To fill this gap we used a literature review and expert discussions to identify 19 enabling or disabling conditions of MSP within four major categories: Plan Attributes, Legal Context, Plan Development and Social Context, and Integration. We propose semi-quantitative scoring and the development of narratives to operationalize the framework as part of a comprehensive methodology for MSP outcome evaluation. Applying the framework can add depth to quantitative MSP evaluation, shed light on questions of outcome attribution, and inform plan adaptation. Evaluating MSP outcomes in the explicit context of the enabling or disabling conditions identified here can stimulate discussion around what works in MSP and provide a path forward for assessing the benefits and costs of MSP worldwide. By identifying conditions instrumental to effective MSP, and alternatively, conditions hindering a plan, the framework can be used to guide plan adaptation and promote learning across the wider MSP community.

The dual mandate for many protected areas (PAs) to simultaneously promote recreation and conserve biodiversity may be hampered by negative effects of recreation on wildlife. However, reports of these effects are not consistent, presenting a knowledge gap that hinders evidence-based decision-making. We used camera traps to monitor human activity and terrestrial mammals in Golden Ears Provincial Park and the adjacent University of British Columbia Malcolm Knapp Research Forest near Vancouver, Canada, with the objective of discerning relative effects of various forms of recreation on cougars (Puma concolor), black bears (Ursus americanus), black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus), snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and bobcats (Lynx rufus). Additionally, public closures of the study area associated with the COVD-19 pandemic offered an unprecedented period of human-exclusion through which to explore these effects. Using Bayesian generalized mixed-effects models, we detected negative effects of hikers (mean posterior estimate = −0.58, 95% credible interval [CI] −1.09 to −0.12) on weekly bobcat habitat use and negative effects of motorized vehicles (estimate = −0.28, 95% CI −0.61 to −0.05) on weekly black bear habitat use. We also found increased cougar detection rates in the PA during the COVID-19 closure (estimate = 0.007, 95% CI 0.005 to 0.009), but decreased cougar detection rates (estimate = −0.006, 95% CI −0.009 to −0.003) and increased black-tailed deer detection rates (estimate = 0.014, 95% CI 0.002 to 0.026) upon reopening of the PA. Our results emphasize that effects of human activity on wildlife habitat use and movement may be species- and/or activity-dependent, and that camera traps can be an invaluable tool for monitoring both wildlife and human activity, collecting data even when public access is barred. Further, we encourage PA managers seeking to promote both biodiversity conservation and recreation to explicitly assess trade-offs between these two goals in their PAs.

The wildlife trade drives biodiversity loss and zoonotic disease emergence, and the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have sparked discussions over stricter regulation of the wildlife trade. Yet regulation for conservation and health purposes is at odds with the economic incentives provided by this multibillion-dollar industry. To understand why the wildlife trade persists despite associated biodiversity and global health threats, we used a benefit–cost approach using simple calculations to compare the economic benefits of the wildlife trade at the individual, national, and global scales to the costs of COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Ebola disease across scenarios of epidemic frequency. For COVID-19, benefits of the wildlife trade outweigh costs at individual scales, but costs far exceed benefits at national and global scales, particularly if epidemics were to become frequent. For SARS and Ebola, benefits outweigh costs at all scales, except if Ebola-like epidemics were to become frequent. The wildlife trade produces net benefits for people who depend on wildlife for food and income but incurs net costs on stakeholders at larger scales from increased epidemic risk. While our analysis omits a variety of costs and benefits that are difficult to quantify and contrast, our analysis is meant to illustrate the distributional outcomes across stakeholder groups that could result from increased wildlife trade regulation. Importantly, the feasibility of trade regulatory policies will depend on how these benefits and costs compare across groups and would therefore need to involve accessible and attractive alternative sources of food and livelihoods for those who depend on the wildlife trade.

Global policies call for connecting protected areas (PAs) to conserve the flow of animals and genes across changing landscapes, yet whether global PA networks currently support animal movement—and where connectivity conservation is most critical—remain largely unknown. In this study, we map the functional connectivity of the world’s terrestrial PAs and quantify national PA connectivity through the lens of moving mammals. We find that mitigating the human footprint may improve connectivity more than adding new PAs, although both strategies together maximize benefits. The most globally important areas of concentrated mammal movement remain unprotected, with 71% of these overlapping with global biodiversity priority areas and 6% occurring on land with moderate to high human modification. Conservation and restoration of critical connectivity areas could safeguard PA connectivity while supporting other global conservation priorities.

Shark catches are common in small-scale (artisanal) and recreational fisheries; the magnitudes of these catches remain poorly known and understudied, particularly in developing countries. Data from three sources were used to assess the composition of shark landings in these fisheries in Kenya: boat-based recreational fishery tagging 1987–2016; observed landings from the Bycatch Assessment and Mitigation in the Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Project 2016–2017; and Catch Assessment Surveys landings data 2017–2020.Eighteen species were identified among 1,215 sharks recorded in small-scale fisheries between June 2016 and June 2017. Most of them belonged to the families Carcharhinidae (26%), Triakidae (23%) and Sphyrnidae (14%). Longlines (41%), drift gillnets (30%) and bottom-set gillnets (21%) recorded the highest proportions of catches.A total of 501 sharks comprising 16 species were recorded in the recreational tagging data between 1987 and 2016, caught using either trolling lines or rods and reels. The families Carcharhinidae (56%) and Sphyrnidae (12%) represented the highest proportion of the catch.A generalized linear model was used to assess the effect of year, gear type, season and vessel propulsion mode on the variation in catches of sharks in small-scale fisheries between 2017 and 2020. Catches were significantly higher in 2017 with high catch rates observed in longlines and handlines.Findings from this study highlight the importance of citizen science by recreational fishers in increasing awareness around the risks and threats to shark populations. Strengthening of existing monitoring of shark interactions with small-scale and recreational fisheries is important alongside the implementation of appropriate conservation and management measures such as reductions in fishing effort (e.g. prawn trawling) in nursery areas, prohibiting the capture of CITES-protected species, and enforcing catch-and-release practices by sport fishers to ensure the long-term sustainability of both the affected shark species and the livelihoods of the fishers.

River floods are already the most damaging disaster type globally, with risk projected to rise in much of the world due to climate change, development in flood-prone areas, and/or deteriorating infrastructure. Nature-based solutions, such as using floodplains to manage floodwaters, can contribute to a diversified portfolio for managing flood risks.

Climate change affects ecosystems and the well-being of rural households relying on ecosystem services for their livelihoods. The ability to withstand the adverse effects of climate change depends on their livelihood resilience. The relationship between natural resource dependence and livelihood resilience of Indigenous forest households in the Amazon region is still poorly understood. We used a case study approach to identify factors contributing to the livelihood resilience and vulnerability of 45 households in the Communal Land of Origin Tacana I area in the Bolivian Amazon. Household income data were collected before (2013) and after (2015) an extreme weather event. We combined a theoretical resilience framework with a practical indexing method to calculate the factors contributing to livelihood resilience and vulnerability. Additionally, conditions, regulatory and policy frameworks shaping vulnerability and resilience at the local level were reviewed. Our results show that income activity choice influences households’ livelihood resilience and vulnerability. Regarding natural resources, a low vulnerability was linked to selling game and fish or pursuing a wage livelihood strategy, while high resilience was related to hunting and cattle. Our results underline the importance of social networks and capital for low cash-income households to provide support. National development policies prioritize economic growth based on strengthening the energy, agro-livestock sector and boosting oil and mining sectors with industrialization. Some of these priorities may threaten the resilience and increase the vulnerability of Indigenous forest-dependent peoples and their subsistence livelihoods. External pressure on forest resources, including fish, requires a holistic focus on livelihood resilience in national adaptation strategies. Anchoring sustainable natural resources management and monitoring strategies at all policy and operative levels is crucial to the livelihood resilience of forest-dependent (Tacana) households and forest ecosystem health. Risk management approaches need to be developed inclusively and have an integrated socio-ecological focus to avoid adverse spill-over effects.

Owing to only a few decades of human influence and unsustainable management of the Mekong River basin’s natural resources, the Mekong Delta is receding rapidly. Most of the delta landform, home to 17 million people and an economic powerhouse, could slip below sea level by 2100 (1). Avoiding such a catastrophic impact will require concerted actions that acknowledge root causes for land loss and the global importance of the delta landform. Deltas persist and grow if sediment supply from an upstream river basin builds delta land at the same or greater rates than land is submerged by relative sea level rise and erosion. With more rapid sea level rise, more sediment resources are needed to maintain the current extent of the delta. Only improved coordination of governance and investments, informed by science, will provide the delta with those critical resources.

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.