From Reef To Reef
Improving ecological connectivity in Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks
Background
Overexploitation of natural resources and climate change are threatening marine ecosystems and coastal communities at alarming rates. There is a clear need to respond to these negative trends, especially in hotspots of marine biodiversity such as the Philippines, which lie within the Coral Triangle, an area spanning across Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste in the Pacific Ocean. Although improvement of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) governance has begun, there is still a long way to go, especially when it comes to integrative measures embracing large geographic areas.
Coral reefs provide critically important ecosystem services to millions of people around the world. In Southeast Asia, the heavy reliance on marine resources has resulted in the overexploitation and degradation of 88% of the region’s coral reefs. Main threats include overfishing, destructive fishing practices, land-based pollution, rapid coastal development and climate change. In the Philippines, about 1,500 MPAs have been established to allow coral reef ecosystems to recover. Networks of MPAs are considered a key tool to improve fish biomass, protect biodiversity and bolster the resilience of coral reefs to climate change.
The effectiveness of MPAs increases significantly when they are ecologically connected. This is especially true for migratory organisms such as fish and coral larvae,. However, before deciding on size, spacing and location of individual MPAs within a network, understanding of larval connectivity must be improved.
The Approach
Through its International Climate Initiative, the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) commissioned GIZ to support marine climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation efforts in the Philippines in collaboration with the Philippine Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as a contribution to the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI). The Coral Triangle Initiative is a multilateral partnership of six countries to address the urgent threats facing the coastal and marine resources of one of the most biologically diverse and ecologically rich regions on earth.http://www.coraltriangleinitiative.org/cti-cff-regional-map
The Silliman University - Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management (SUAKCREM) in Dumaguete City, Central Philippines, implements the project “Testing Larval Connectivity and Resilience within MPA Networks in the Central Philippines”. SUAKCREM receives financial support from the GIZ-funded project “Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Areas (ACCCoast). The project “Testing Larval Connectivity and Resilience within MPA Networks in the Central Philippines” consists of two components aiming to elucidate the connectivity between fish populations:
The first component investigates the genetic parentage of fish populations. Analyses are conducted at two spatial scales: within 90 km of coastline in Negros Oriental (encompassing 8 municipalities) and within a 300 km wide region of the Bohol Sea (encompassing 4 provinces). This is the first project to track dispersal of reef fish larvae in the Philippines by means of genetic analyses. The second component aims to validate and improve existing biophysical models of reef fish larval dispersal. The results of these computer-based simulations, when combined with data on ocean currents, will also provide insights on the dispersal of coral larvae.
Findings on larval connectivity and their implications to current configurations of MPA networks will be communicated to municipalities on-site. In Negros Oriental, this will be done in coordination with the provincial government to facilitate the coordination of MPA networks covering several municipalities. Results will also be shared with the broader international and national scientific community through symposia (International Coral Reef Symposium, July 2012; Philippine National Symposium on Marine Science, October 2013).
The Impacts
The knowledge on larval connectivity gathered by this project will help all stakeholders involved in MPA management to decide on how to best structure new MPA networks and how to improve the design of existing MPA networks. The results are specifically valuable to the Philippines as the spatial scales applied match the typical magnitudes of MPA networks in the country (10’s to a few 100’s of km). In addition, the results are relevant to several levels of governance in the Philippines (within and between municipalities, within a province, and between provinces). Apart from that, the project serves as a model for the ecological networking of MPAs in other parts of the Philippines and other maritime countries in South-East Asia and the Coral Triangle.
More Information
on the project:http://www.giz.de/themen/en/37943.htm
http://www.coraltriangleinitiative.org/
http://www.rareconservation.org/
http://www.aseanbiodiversity.org/
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