Marine Management Area Science
Final Narrative Report

Submitted to: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Submitted by: Conservation International Marine Management Area Science Program

October 15, 2010

Download:

• Report (PDF, 1 MB)
  
• Attachment 1: MMAS Outcomes Workplan (Excel, 74 KB)
  
• Attachment 2: MMAS Indicators of Success (Excel, 29 KB)
  
• Attachment 3: MMAS Studies Contacts Data (Excel, 20 KB)
  
• Attachment 4: Sample S2A Framework (Excel, 25 KB)
  

Executive Summary

In October 2005, Conservation International received a $12.5M grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to launch one of the world’s largest global marine conservation science initiatives and the largest science initiative focused on marine managed areas. Now at its closure, the Marine Management Area Science Program (MMAS) has conducted an unprecedented amount of work examining the biodiversity and human well-being aspects of marine managed areas, which has directly contributed to conservation worldwide. In doing so, CI has fulfilled its obligations under the grant.

Conservation International’s Marine Management Area Science program, which was built on partnerships with more than 100 institutions, conducted cutting-edge research on the biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being aspects of marine management areas, drawing on both natural and social sciences and in direct support to CI’s new mission. “Science-to-Action” (S2A) was a central focus of the program—addressing critical management questions through a global learning network that was designed to ensure highquality science was used in decision-making. The MMAS studies were conducted in 23 countries; however, the primary focus was in four nodes: Belize, Brazil, Fiji, and the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape.

Particularly unique to this program compared to other marine conservation science initiatives was the emphasis on:

• Examining both the biodiversity and human well-being aspects of marine conservation efforts working with more than 200 scientists worldwide;
• Ensuring the science fed into conservation action at the local to global levels by establishing close partnerships between scientists and field conservationists; and
• Synthesizing findings from the 50 studies to identify key insights based on experiences in 73 MMAs worldwide.

MMAS was conducted over five years (Fall 2005 to Fall 2010), during which time the Program transitioned from planning (year 1) to data collection and analysis (years 2 to 4) to synthesis across studies and S2A (years 4 to 5), although there were components of each throughout the five-year grant period. The final year of the grant focused on synthesizing results from the 50 studies to produce a series of cross-study publications, including People and Oceans, Living with the Sea, and MMAs: What, Why and Where and feeding the scientific findings into conservation action at the local to global level.

The greatest achievements of the MMAS Program were:

• Demonstrating the benefits and challenges of MMAs to human well-being and biodiversity;
• Demonstrating the significant role of oceans in people’s lives;
• Demonstrating the ecological importance of local conservation efforts;
• Influencing the establishment of new MMAs in Fiji, Panama, Brazil, and the central Pacific, and improving the effectiveness of existing MMAs in Fiji, Panama, Ecuador, Belize, Brazil, and Kiribati;
• Building a worldwide network of expertise in 23 countries and 73 MMAs from which insights were drawn for global learning;
• Developing and implementing a framework for S2A to maximize the conservation impacts of the scientific findings from local to global levels; and
• Building short-term and long-term capacity in the four nodes.

Over the past five years, marine conservation science has become engrained in Conservation International through both the Science & Knowledge and Global Marine Divisions. While the MMAS Program is ending, marine conservation science is highly respected and an integral part of CI and one to which CI Leadership is fully committed. During the course of the Program fundraising efforts successfully solicited $6.2M ($.5M to CI; $5.7M leveraged to partners). Building on MMAS experience, the next iteration of marine conservation science at CI, Marine Science-to-Action, will build on MMAS experiences and incorporate new issues by focusing on marine spatial planning, fisheries management, climate change, policy scenarios, ocean health indicators, and S2A.