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Andrianambinina FOD, Schuurman D, Rakotoarijaona MA, Razanajovy CN, Ramparany HM, Rafanoharana SC, Rasamuel HA, Faragher KD, Waeber PO, Wilmé L. Boost the resilience of protected areas to shocks by reducing their dependency on tourism. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0278591. [PMID: 37053230 PMCID: PMC10101445 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Ecotourism is widely considered a strong mechanism for the sustainable funding of protected areas (PAs). Implemented during the 1990s in Madagascar, nature-based tourism experienced positive growth over the last 30 years with increasing numbers of visits to the parks and reserves. Revenue earned from entrance fees to the network of PAs managed by Madagascar National Parks has never been sufficient to finance their management. Political crises and the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, have highlighted for park managers, the risk of relying on such earnings when they covered just 1% of the required funding in 2021. Alternative mechanisms of funding are analysed for all of Madagascar's PAs with a view to facilitating sustainable conservation of the localities and protection of the island's biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - H Andry Rasamuel
- Madagascar Program, World Resources Institute Africa, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Kevin D Faragher
- World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Patrick O Waeber
- International Forest Management, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Forest Management and Development, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Lucienne Wilmé
- Madagascar Program, World Resources Institute Africa, Antananarivo, Madagascar
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Gilby BL, Olds AD, Connolly RM, Stevens T, Henderson CJ, Maxwell PS, Tibbetts IR, Schoeman DS, Rissik D, Schlacher TA. Optimising Land-Sea Management for Inshore Coral Reefs. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0164934. [PMID: 27764164 PMCID: PMC5072624 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2016] [Accepted: 10/04/2016] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Management authorities seldom have the capacity to comprehensively address the full suite of anthropogenic stressors, particularly in the coastal zone where numerous threats can act simultaneously to impact reefs and other ecosystems. This situation requires tools to prioritise management interventions that result in optimum ecological outcomes under a set of constraints. Here we develop one such tool, introducing a Bayesian Belief Network to model the ecological condition of inshore coral reefs in Moreton Bay (Australia) under a range of management actions. Empirical field data was used to model a suite of possible ecological responses of coral reef assemblages to five key management actions both in the sea (e.g. expansion of reserves, mangrove & seagrass restoration, fishing restrictions) and on land (e.g. lower inputs of sediment and sewage from treatment plants). Models show that expanding marine reserves (a ‘marine action’) and reducing sediment inputs from the catchments (a ‘land action’) were the most effective investments to achieve a better status of reefs in the Bay, with both having been included in >58% of scenarios with positive outcomes, and >98% of the most effective (5th percentile) scenarios. Heightened fishing restrictions, restoring habitats, and reducing nutrient discharges from wastewater treatment plants have additional, albeit smaller effects. There was no evidence that combining individual management actions would consistently produce sizeable synergistic until after maximum investment on both marine reserves (i.e. increasing reserve extent from 31 to 62% of reefs) and sediments (i.e. rehabilitating 6350 km of waterways within catchments to reduce sediment loads by 50%) were implemented. The method presented here provides a useful tool to prioritize environmental actions in situations where multiple competing management interventions exist for coral reefs and in other systems subjected to multiple stressor from the land and the sea.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben L. Gilby
- School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, 4558, Queensland, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Andrew D. Olds
- School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, 4558, Queensland, Australia
| | - Rod M. Connolly
- Australian Rivers Institute—Coasts and Estuaries, School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, 4222, Queensland, Australia
| | - Tim Stevens
- Australian Rivers Institute—Coasts and Estuaries, School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, 4222, Queensland, Australia
| | - Christopher J. Henderson
- Australian Rivers Institute—Coasts and Estuaries, School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, 4222, Queensland, Australia
| | - Paul S. Maxwell
- School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, Queensland, Australia
- Healthy Waterways, Level 4, 200 Creek Street, Spring Hill, 4004, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ian R. Tibbetts
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4003, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - David S. Schoeman
- School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, 4558, Queensland, Australia
| | - David Rissik
- National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Griffith University, Gold Coast 4222, Queensland, Australia
| | - Thomas A. Schlacher
- School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, 4558, Queensland, Australia
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