TM2 | Should 30x30 include temporary protection?

TM2

Should 30x30 include temporary protection?

Convener: Anastasia Quintana | Co-convener: Jean Wencelius

Thu, 05 Jun, 12:45–13:45 (CEST)|Room 2

“30x30” - the goal to protect 30% of the land and sea by 2030 - has focused largely on permanent or long-term protection. This is based partly on studies linking marine protected area effectiveness to old age, as well pragmatic policy concerns. However, as coastal communities relying on fisheries for their livelihoods seek to find ways to balance conservation and livelihood outcomes, many forms of spatial fisheries management - especially traditional and indigenous management - rely on impermanence, including periodic and rotational protection, as well as protected areas that expire after a period of time. Could and should temporary protection count towards 30x30? The international “TEMPO” research team, a 5-year partnership between four universities and two community partner organizations in Mexico and French Polynesia, brings together several lines of evidence to speak to this question. In this Town Hall, the TEMPO team presents novel results from several scales of social-ecological analysis, and we critically discuss our findings with external experts to bring concrete lessons for ocean policymakers. The novel research we present and synthesize includes a global systematic review of temporary protection; fisheries and social-science data collection across 50+ cases of temporary protection in Mexico and French Polynesia; and in-depth ethnographic and participatory ecological data from six sites in Mexico and French Polynesia. We analyse these compelling, contradictory, and contextualized data into four main arguments: (1) there are diverse ways to include time with spatial management; (2) adding time to marine spatial management increases climate-adaptive policy options and potential for institutional fit; (3) temporary closures frequently increase equity and justice; and (4) periodic harvest tends to deplete ecological benefits that have accrued, but support long-term buy-in into ecological care. Our Town Hall includes several speed-talks from the TEMPO team (30 minutes), followed by a lively round table discussion of policy lessons (30 minutes). The round table discussion will be open to questions and commentary from the audience and we invite attendees to share experiences from cases of temporary closures. This Town Hall will be an opportunity to advance global dialogues on temporary marine spatial management.

Should marine protected areas be opened to fishing, sometimes? Please come discuss this and more as we grapple with integrating time in marine spatial management. We welcome diverse perpsectives in our discussion. The plan for this Town Hall (subject to change) includes 25 minutes of presentations from our group followed by an open dialogue with the audience:

Part 1: Why? (10 mins)

Anastasia Quintana: Introduction to the panel and motivation for examining temporary closures (5 minutes)
Matt Lauer: Time-bound vs. permanent closures and their underpinning assumptions about the nature of time (5 minutes)

Part 2: How? (15 mins)

Marguerite Taiarui, Jean Wencélius, Tamatoa Bambridge: Harvesting Rāhui: navigating socio-ecological uncertainties in the management of customary periodic closures in French Polynesia (7 minutes)
Anastasia Quintana: The case of 5-year “Zonas de Refugio” from Mexico: Lessons from 15+ years of community-based research (7 minutes)

Part 3: Open discussion and round-table (30 mins)

Round table discussion, open to questions and conversation from the audience (Discussants: Stacy Jupiter, Joachim Claudet, Tamatoa Bambridge, Matt Lauer, Stuart Fulton, Eréndira Aceves Bueno, Emilie Lindkvist, Anuata Tetuanui, Marguerite Taiarui, Olivia Isbell, Jean Wencélius) - moderated by Anastasia Quintana. Topics below will be intermixed with audience questions.

Topic 1: What are key differences between temporary and permanent closures?
Topic 2: What are the key takeaways for policymakers about temporary closures?
Topic 3: Should temporary closures, including periodically harvested ones, count towards 30x30?
Topic 4: What is the research agenda for temporary closures for the next 5-10 years?

Don't miss this if you are interested in tools to manage the oceans.

Speakers

Anastasia Quintana, University of California Santa Barbara, United States of America
Matthew Lauer, San Diego State University, United States of America
Marguerite Taiarui, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, France
Jean Wencelius, CNRS, French Polynesia
Tamatoa Bambridge