Belize National Protected Areas Policy and System Plan

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Belize National Protected Areas Policy and System
Plan
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Background
The project was developed in 2004 through the
Ministry of Natural Resources with the guiding
principle that the Protected Areas System should
be a major contributor to national development
and poverty alleviation, while maximizing its
biodiversity value and ecological functionality.

• A previous assessment project (National
  Protected Areas System Plan, funded by USAID) was
  conducted in 1994, but was focused solely on
  biodiversity conservation and was never fully
  incorporated into the national agenda. It set the
  stage for system-wide thinking and planning.

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The National Protected Areas Policy and System
Plan Initiative
Ministry of Natural Resources Launched in 2004
Five Themes
Policy Formulation
Protected Area System Assessment Analysis
Management Procedures and Sustainable Use
Identification and Delivery of Economic Benefits
Strengthening Management Monitoring
provided official platform for NGO assistance
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NPAPSP Protected Area Analysis
18.5 . national territory under some form of
conservation management
Hectares
Land 2,212,760
Territorial Sea 1,865,300
EEZ 1,605,880
National Territory 5,683,940
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Terrestrial vs Marine Protected Areas
94 Protected areas, with archeology private
PAs 42 land in PAs 17 is in conservation
25 extractive uses (e.g. forestry
reserves) 7 marine territory in MPA (includes
EEZ or 20 for shelf) 3 in conservation 4
extractive uses

• .

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Analysis Method

• MARXAN is software that delivers decision
  support for reserve system design. MARXAN finds
  reasonably efficient solutions to the problem of
  selecting a system of spatially cohesive sites
  that meet a suite of biodiversity targets. Given
  reasonably uniform data on species, habitats
  and/or other relevant biodiversity features and
  surrogates for a number of planning units MARXAN
  minimizes the cost while meeting user-defined
  targets.
• Steps
• Defined Conservation Targets
• Set specific goals for each target (based
  largely on their environmental services or
  perceived need/threat and on comparison with
  widely used values)
• Few experts or accepted criteria did the best
  we could

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Original Marine Habitats gt 30 classes x 6 zones
19 Marine Bioregions Based on habitats,
sediments, bathymetry and geography
Based on Australian model
PDF file 5,580 kb
simplified into
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Marine Conservation Target Proportions (minimum
value for each)
Each marine bioregion 20 Coral reefs
30 Mangroves 40           High
Interconnectivity 50 Manatee distribution
30 Turtle nesting sites 60 Saltwater
crocodiles nesting 60 Spawning Aggregation
sites 80 (Birds treated under terrestrial)
Used only national scale data
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Marine Variations (Important MARXAN choices)
Locked in approach Includes all MPAs adds
in needed gaps
Clean slate approach - does not consider
existing MPAs
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Variation Used a compromise
We chose to use a compromise approach by seeding
the selection with existing MPAs
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Human Needs
A cost layer in MARXAN Identify the areas
where human needs come first Or footprint /
threat is highest Make these areas more
expensive to select
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Combined Results
Minimize conflicts between Conservation targets
human needs layers Encourages ridge to reef
conservation connectivity
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Combined Results
Marine results are more flexible than
terrestrial results. Although some
coastal/marine areas are always selected Some of
these are outside existing network
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Conclusions

• In general there is still a lack of data that
  would help conservation planning and management.
  There is a need for a spatially enabled species
  database, standardized monitoring schemes.
• No data was available for the deep water
  ecosystems of Belize and such data is clearly
  needed for conservation planning
• Monitoring of biodiversity is still in its
  infancy, yet it will be important for the future
  management of conservation management areas.

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Conclusions

• There is no single correct way of designing a
  protected areas system and a variety of options
  can achieve similar results
• Multiple considerations, shifting priorities and
  changing conditions need to be considered, with
  humans (not MARXAN) making final decisions
• Despite a fairly high percent area in protection,
  the analysis shows many gaps outside the existing
  network. MARXAN can help us be more efficient
  getting maximum conservation results with less
  area under conservation
• Need the right mix of science, politics and
  practicality to turn design options into an
  achievable reality-based Network

http//biological-diversity.info/Downloads/Report
_result2_finaldraft_s.pdf  
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Next Steps

• Production of final report including multimedia
  data CD
• Public Dissemination
• Use as a planning tool for implementation of a
  more rationalized and functional Protected Areas
  Network

WWF now begins a ecoregional MCPA network
assessment