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Evidence that spillover from Marine Protected Areas benefits the spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) fishery in southern California

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designed to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services. Some
MPAs are also established to benefit fisheries through increased egg and larval production, or the
spillover of mobile juveniles and adultsCall Number: [EL]Physical Description: 9 p.

Spillover benefits from the world’s largest fully protected MPA

Previous research has cast doubt on the potential for marine protected areas (MPAs) to provide refuge and fishery spillover benefits for migratory species as most MPAs are small relative to the geographic range of these species. We test for evidence of spillover benefits accruing from the world’s largest fully protected MPA, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Using species-specific data collected by independent fishery observers, we examine changes in catch rates for individual vessels near to and far from the MPA before and after its expansion in 2016.

Saving the ocean and climate through innovative marine protected area finance mechanisms

Ocean threats: acidification, deoxygenation, warming, heatwaves. Do we have anything useful to bend, change, or reverse the results? This brochure, conceived to advocate and educate at the UNFCCC COP27 meetings, summarises these threats and how various solutions (explained within) can actually help protect the ocean as Nature-based Solutions, if correctly constructed, and the existing and emerging financial mechanisms and institutions that can build and fortify these solutions. 

Assessing the quantity and quality of marine protected areas in the Mariana Islands

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are ubiquitous in global ocean conservation and play a pivotal role in achieving local, national, and regional area-based conservation targets. Often, such targets are merely met on “paper” and lack the political or managerial resources to produce positive conservation outcomes. Here, we apply the MPA Guide – a framework for assessing the quantity and quality of marine protected areas – to Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), two U.S. territories in the Western Pacific.

Reshaping Natural Resource Management in Papua New Guinea

The growing need for effective tools and new approaches for natural resource management (NRM) is being met by PNG’s NRM Hub initiative, which is already helping to centralise environmental data and make it accessible to stakeholders everywhere. One tool in particular is finding great use  – the Managing Effectiveness Tracking Tool, or METT, a global framework customised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to meet PNG’s unique environment and cultures. 

The effects of protected areas on the ecological niches of birds and mammals

Protected areas are a cornerstone for biodiversity conservation, and typically support more natural and undisturbed habitats compared to unprotected lands. The effect of protected areas on intra-specific ecological niche has been rarely investigated. Here, we explore potential differences in ecological niche properties of birds and mammals across protected and unprotected areas, and relate such differences to species traits.

Video - National Protected Areas Forum highlights 2021, Papua New Guinea

The aim of the National Protected Areas Forum was to fulfill mandates and strengthen policies to protect the country’s abundant natural assets into the future to benefit all life and future generations. Led by the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Human impacts on mammals in and around a protected area before, during, and after COVID-19 Lockdowns

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.

Vuri Clan Forest Conservation Area Management Plan - Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands

This Management Plan was prepared by the representatives of the Vuri Clan of Sikipozo Tribe in partnership with the Natural Resources Development Foundation (NRDF), Ecological Solutions Solomon Islands (ESSI), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-SI), the Ministry of Forestry and Research (National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens Division) (MoFR-NHBG) and the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM).