Integrating climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation in the global ocean

• Published in: Science advances Vol. 5; no. 11; p. eaay9969
• Main Authors: Tittensor, Derek P, Beger, Maria, Boerder, Kristina, Boyce, Daniel G, Cavanagh, Rachel D, Cosandey-Godin, Aurelie, Crespo, Guillermo Ortuño, Dunn, Daniel C, Ghiffary, Wildan, Grant, Susie M, Hannah, Lee, Halpin, Patrick N, Harfoot, Mike, Heaslip, Susan G, Jeffery, Nicholas W, Kingston, Naomi, Lotze, Heike K, McGowan, Jennifer, McLeod, Elizabeth, McOwen, Chris J, O'Leary, Bethan C, Schiller, Laurenne, Stanley, Ryan R E, Westhead, Maxine, Wilson, Kristen L, Worm, Boris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 01.11.2019
• Subjects: Acclimatization; Aquatic Organisms; Biodiversity; Climate Change; Conservation of Natural Resources; Environmental Studies; Oceans and Seas; SciAdv r-articles; Science Policy
• ISSN: 2375-2548; 2375-2548
• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay9969

The impacts of climate change and the socioecological challenges they present are ubiquitous and increasingly severe. Practical efforts to operationalize climate-responsive design and management in the global network of marine protected areas (MPAs) are required to ensure long-term effectiveness for safeguarding marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here, we review progress in integrating climate change adaptation into MPA design and management and provide eight recommendations to expedite this process. Climate-smart management objectives should become the default for all protected areas, and made into an explicit international policy target. Furthermore, incentives to use more dynamic management tools would increase the climate change responsiveness of the MPA network as a whole. Given ongoing negotiations on international conservation targets, now is the ideal time to proactively reform management of the global seascape for the dynamic climate-biodiversity reality.