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Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the variability of life on earth from genes to species to the entire biosphere. Biodiversity provides immeasurable benefit to human societ- ies through medicine, food, fiber, ecosystem services, and cultural values. Yet, this diversity of life is under siege: species arc being lost at a rate far beyond the natural extinction rate.

Mangrove species are uniquely adapted to tropical and subtropical coasts, and although relatively low in number of species, mangrove forests provide at least US $1.6 billion each year in ecosystem services and support coastal livelihoods worldwide. Globally, mangrove areas are declining rapidly as they are cleared for coastal development and aquaculture and logged for timber and fuel production. Little is known about the effects of mangrove area loss on individual mangrove species and local or regional populations. To address this gap, species-specific information on global distribution, population status, life history traits, and major threats were compiled for each of the 70 known species of mangroves. Each species’ probability of extinction was assessed under the Categories and Criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Eleven of the 70 mangrove species (16%) are at elevated threat of extinction. Particular areas of geographical concern include the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Central America, where as many as 40% of mangroves species present are threatened with extinction. Across the globe, mangrove species found primarily in the high intertidal and upstream estuarine zones, which often have specific freshwater requirements and patchy distributions, are the most threatened because they are often the first cleared for development of aquaculture and agriculture. The loss of mangrove species will have devastating economic and environmental consequences for coastal communities, especially in those areas with low mangrove diversity and high mangrove area or species loss. Several species at high risk of extinction may disappear well before the next decade if existing protective measures are not enforced.

Over two-thirds of the world’s surface is covered by water. Open oceans, semi-enclosed or enclosed seas, coastal areas, estuaries, rivers and lakes are host to highly diverse ecosystems that span all of earth’s climatologic zones. The productivity of these ecosystems has largely shaped development of human society and led to human settlement along coastal margins. Globally, the number of people living within 100 km of the coast increased from ca 2 billion in 1990 to 2.2 billion in 1995, or 39 percent of the world’s population (WRI 2006). The number continues to increase.

Life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken. Well designed and effectively managed systems of protected areas are a vital tool for reducing biodiversity loss while delivering environmental goods and services that underpin sustainable development. There are currently over 130,000 protected areas worldwide, covering around 13.9 % of the Earth’s land surface and 5.9 % of the territorial marine surface. These areas represent a tremendous resource for conserving biodiversity and for protecting vital ecosystem services. The world’s protected areas exist in a rapidly changing world. There are many issues facing protected areas, including climate change, invasive species, fragmentation of natural ecosystems, increasing urbanisation and growing demands upon natural resources. Consideration of protected areas must be framed within this context of global change

Research for this study was carried out under a two-year project to support the implementation of Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) at two catchment-to-reef sites on Vanua Levu, Fiji. While the original scope of the study was to draw on lessons from community monitoring of infringements within their marine protected area (MPA) networks, efforts to assist communities to keep regular records of non-compliance met with numerous challenges. Because of the limited community monitoring data, the report has changed in scope to discuss some of the root causes of non-compliance with fisheries regulations within the traditional fishing grounds (qoliqoli) of Kubulau District and Macuata Province.

WCS has been conducting surveys of reef community assemblages inside and outside the marine protected areas (MPAs) within the Kubulau District traditional fishing ground (qoliqoli) since an MPA network was established in 2005. The purpose of this study was to collect data of small to medium scale movement of fish in this network of no-take MPAs, which can provide crucial information for the interpretation of demographic fish data from on-going monitoring programme and insight to MPA protection efficiency.

Research for this study was carried out under a four-year project to assist communities in Kubulau district of Vanua Levu in Fiji to establish networks of marine protected areas within their large, traditional fishing grounds (qoliqoli). In 2005 and 2009, socioeconomic household surveys were conducted in villages of the Kubulau district to examine coastal marine resource use and participation in the management process. Results from three of the villages (Navatu, Kiobo, Nakarovou) with traditional fishing rights within the three established district-wide, no-take MPAs (Namena, Namuri, Nasue, respectively) are compared with one village (Natokalau) without fishing rights in these areas but with high observed levels of community organization.

Research for this study was carried out under a two-year project to support the implementation of Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) at two catchment-to-reef sites on Vanua Levu, Fiji, during which conservation planning approaches were trialled using EBM tools to evaluate options for re-designing marine protected area (MPA) networks. Current approaches in systematic conservation planning have focused on developing tools to maximize conservation benefits while minimizing socio-economic costs to users of a landscape or seascape area. In this study, we present a novel method for calculating the opportunity costs of conservation actions to multiple gear type users arising from fisher displacement due to the establishment of MPAs in Kubulau District, Vanua Levu, Fiji. The method builds upon those applied in land conservation in which the probability of land conversion to alternate functions is used to estimate opportunity costs to multiple stakeholders, which differs from previous approaches by providing information about costs of currently unused areas that may be of potential future benefit. We model opportunity costs of establishing a network of MPAs as a function of food fish abundance, probability of catch as function of gear type and market value of species. Count models (including Poisson, Negative Binomial and two zero-inflated models) were used to predict spatial distribution of abundance for preferred target fish species and validated against underwater visual census (UVC) surveys and biophysical predictor variables (reef type, reef exposure, depth, distance to shore, protection status). Spatial distributions of targeted fish within the three most frequently sighted food fish families (Acanthuridae, Lutjanidae, Scaridae) varied considerably: Lutjanidae had the highest abundance on barrier reefs; Acanthuridae on inshore fringing and patch reefs; and Scaridae on fringing reefs. Modeled opportunity cost, estimated as a function of abundance and probability of catch by gear type, indicated highest cost to fishers would arise from restricting access to the fringing reef between the villages of Navatu and Kiobo and the lowest cost would arise from restricting access to the Cakaunivuaka reef. The opportunity cost layer was added to Marxan models to identify optimum areas for protection to meet fisheries objectives in Kubulau’s traditional fisheries management area with: (a) the current MPA network locked in place; and (b) a clean-slate approach. The opportunity cost method presented here gives an unbiased estimate of opportunity costs to multiple gear types in a marine environment that can be applied to any region using existing species data.