Charting the value and limits of other effective conservation measures (OECMs) for marine conservation: A Delphi study<\/a>,\u201d highlights some of these challenges and possibilities in marine conservation locations.<\/p>\n\u201cWhile OECMs have the potential to advance equitable and effective marine conservation, the concept remains relatively new and requires clarification and practical guidance,\u201d says Maini, former Research Assistant with Brock\u2019s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) and the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n
The team, including researchers from the University of Toronto and James Cook University in Australia, conducted three rounds of interviews with 18 international coastal environmental experts.<\/p>\n
Questions revolved around opportunities and challenges associated with the implementation of marine OECMs as well as who should evaluate and report the effectiveness of marine OECMs and how should they do it.<\/p>\n
From the interviews, the team identified a dozen ways marine OECMs can boost local marine conservation efforts, including fostering more collaboration between conservation, fisheries, local communities and Indigenous communities, and achieving \u201cgreater balance between achieving biodiversity benefits and human well-being,\u201d says the study.<\/p>\n
The team also identified five challenges, including sourcing enough resources to support OECMs\u2019 reporting, ensuring OECMs are not misused to reduce marine conservation regulations, and \u201cprotecting new groups\u2019 livelihoods, cultures and norms as they engage with global conservation targets,\u201d says the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo consensus was reached on how to measure the effectiveness of OECMs, highlighting the need to develop shared monitoring guidelines,\u201d says Maini.<\/p>\n
The study is not just academic. Blythe, who is Associate Professor in the ESRC, says the process of creating the OECMs reflects issues relevant in all areas of conservation.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my point of view as a social scientist who focuses on issues of equity and local resource rights, OECMs represent a massive shift in the way we’re thinking about global conservation,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve recognized that globally, many biodiversity hotspots are on Indigenous lands,\u201d says Blythe. \u201cWe need to recognize the valuable contribution of Indigenous and local communities, which have been underemphasized in the conservation story thus far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maini says she hopes the team\u2019s research will help people to recognize the importance of OECMs and the many ways conservation takes place.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur study provides clarity on the vital role of marine OECMs in conservation, and we urge researchers, policymakers and practitioners to build more support for this new but effective policy tool,\u201d says Maini.<\/p>\n
Climate change impacts \u2014 warmer temperatures and increased acidity of oceans being two of many \u2014 and human activities threaten many species of plants and animals that live in water.<\/p>\n
According to the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report<\/a>, over one-third of marine mammals and nearly one-third of sharks, shark relatives and reef-forming corals are threatened with extinction mostly due to human activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The stakes are high, and the time is tight. The recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) put the spotlight on a wide range of environmental targets and timelines for the world to achieve, among them protecting the planet\u2019s diversity of plants and animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":82261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,1,5,38],"tags":[12216,12219,794,11725,296,2262,522,2045,7417,12217,12218,44],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82258"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82284,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82258\/revisions\/82284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}