Understanding the adoption and spread of marine community-based conservation

"Despite billions of dollars invested in marine biodiversity conservation projects and programs internationally, 'getting to scale' a major challenge [1, 2]. Effective community-level projects often fail to reach scales needed to achieve community or government expectations, and a growing literature recognizes the 'implementation gap' between national conservation plans and the actions actually undertaken [3, 4]. Occasionally, however, a conservation practice will 'go viral'; with rapid, widespread adoption, transforming the relationship between people and nature across large areas, and resulting in large positive biodiversity outcomes. Diffusion of innovation theory - the study of how, why, and at what rate new ideas and practices are adopted by individuals, groups, organizations, or countries - is one of the most robust social science literatures. With seven decades of research across disparate analogous fields [5] (e.g., agriculture, health, technology), but it has been overlooked by conservation science and policy to date, and promises to explain the patterns and trends in the establishment of conservation policies, programs, and practices.

In the Pacific, for example, the past 15 years have witnessed explosive growth of Locally Managed Marine Areas, an area of "inshore waters governed by local residents and involving a collective understanding of, and commitment to, management interventions in response to threats to marine resources" [6]. This involves over 500 communities in 15 countries or territories managing more than 12 000 km2 of inshore waters. However, adoption is not uniform across the Pacific and is not permanent. Using LMMAs in the Pacific as a model system, this project proposes to identify the factors that shape spatial patterns and temporal trends in the adoption and abandonment of community-based marine conservation practices.

This project will build on existing work undertaken by Dr Mills (Imperial College London) and Dr Mascia (Conservation International) and existing datasets on LMMA adoption, and collect quantitative data about LMMA characteristics, village characteristics, and broader contextual variables that predict diffusion, as well as information about LMMA abandonment. These data will be used to model the estimated impact of LMMAs in time and space, based on data regarding trends and patterns of LMMAs.

These insights will allow us to:
A. Accelerate growth of LMMAs through evidence-based refinements in conservation policy and practice (e.g., design of the LMMA, approach to engaging potential adopters, and broader policy reforms).
B. Enhance durability/longevity of LMMAs through evidence-based refinements in conservation policy and practice.

References:
1. Miller, D.C., A. Agrawal, and J.T. Roberts, Explaining the Allocation of Foreign Aid for Biodiversity Conservation. World Development, 2010. 59: p. 341-359.
2. Cumming, G.S., D.H. Cumming, and C.L. Redman. Ecology and Society, 2006. 11(1): p. 14.
3. Knight, A.T., et al. Conservation Biology, 2008. 22(3): p. 610-617.
4. Dressler, W., et al.. Environmental Conservation, 2010. 37(01): p. 5-15.
5. Rogers, E.M., Diffusion of Innovations (5th Edition). 5th ed. 2003, New York: Free Press.
6. Mills, M., et al. Conservation Biology, 2011. 25(6): p. 1155-1164."