June 19, 2018
In partnership with Charles Darwin Foundation, ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber will be facilitating a workshop titled "Linking knowledge to conservation outcomes in the Galapagos Marine Reserve" in Ecuador on June 19, 2018.
In the Galapagos Islands, a large no-take marine protected area was recently established around the remote islands of Darwin and Wolf. This reserve represents one-third of the greater Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) and is entirely closed to fishing.
Prior to the establishment of this no-take zone, the Galapagos National Park (GNP) had established a participatory process to adapt the GMR's marine zoning originally agreed upon in 2000.
This zoning scheme represented an integrated social-ecological approach to account for the spatial distribution of key biodiversity areas, fishery resources and fishing fleets.
The establishment of the new sanctuary has been criticized by local stakeholder as a top-down approach that undermines this participatory process. Preliminary data suggest that the economic costs associated to the implementation of this large no-take zone are higher than its long-term benefits.
Proponents of the sanctuary argue that we must take every change we get to protect the ocean -- even if opportunistic.
We present a framework to reconcile opportunistic and systematic approaches to conservation to ensure protection of the Galapagos Marine Reserve. We apply this framework to link knowledge to action as a path toward sustainable management of the Galapagos marine ecosystem.
[Text source: event promotional flyer]
