At the recent ICES Annual Science Conference (ASC) 2024 held in Gateshead, UK, Dr. Paul Whomersley, Principal Consultant at HMC, convened Session E, focusing on advancing evidence for effective biodiversity conservation and management. Experts shared pioneering research, data-driven strategies, and practical tools to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in marine conservation today. In this blog, Paul highlights key presentations and interactive discussions from the session, offering insights into how science is shaping sustainable marine management and conservation efforts.
A Closer Look at Key Presentations
The session showcased some fascinating insights, grouped into four main themes: harnessing large-scale datasets, developing effective indicators, tracking community changes, and advancing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and conservation strategies.
- Harnessing Large-Scale Datasets: Researchers demonstrated the power of combining data from diverse sources to create well-rounded, evidence-based management advice. By linking information from multiple datasets, they are painting a clearer picture of the marine environment, helping to shape policies that better protect our ocean.
- Developing Indicators: Indicators are like the dashboard lights for biodiversity health, showing us when things are off track. This session emphasised the need to agree on which indicators to use, as these play a critical role in assessing the success of conservation efforts.
- Tracking Community Changes: Presenters showed how large datasets track shifts within marine communities over time, proving that data collected once can serve multiple purposes, making it a valuable asset for long-term conservation.
- MPA and Conservation Strategies: In the final session, presenters highlighted the importance of evidence collection in creating and evaluating management strategies for MPAs.
Engaging Discussion and Key Insights
During an interactive discussion, session conveners led participants through five core elements necessary for effective biodiversity management: defining management goals, collecting data, assessing and interpreting data, providing actionable advice, and evaluating results. Using live polling, participants shared insights and explored these themes further.
- Defining Clear Objectives: While most attendees agreed on the general goals of biodiversity conservation, many felt we lack concrete, operational targets to guide actions. Attendees stressed the importance of bridging the gap between policy goals and practical, measurable objectives.
- Collecting the Right Data: Most attendees believed we have substantial data on biodiversity and the pressures it faces, but a gap remains in data that provides holistic guidance on management options.
- Interpreting and Using Data: There was consensus that we have good indicators to describe biodiversity and its pressures, but some attendees felt we’re not yet taking a truly holistic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of current management. This part of the discussion touched on ways to build a more integrated approach to data interpretation.
- Delivering Evidence-Based Advice: Participants pointed out that clear pathways for using evidence to inform management decisions are lacking. Many felt that current evidence provision often falls short of what’s needed for well-informed decision-making.
- Evaluating Management Efforts: There was a strong feeling that more effort is needed to assess the effectiveness of current conservation management practices. Attendees noted that evaluations of existing approaches are limited, leading to missed opportunities for improvement.
Key Challenges and Opportunities
The session pinpointed several critical challenges to effective biodiversity management, including a disconnect between policy and practice, funding gaps, and fragmented, short-term monitoring approaches.
- Disconnect Between Policy and Practice: There is often a gap between what policymakers need, and the data collected on the ground.
- Funding Gaps: Long-term funding for collecting integrated datasets is needed to create a more comprehensive approach to management.
- Thematic, Project-Based Monitoring: Current monitoring approaches tend to be fragmented and short-term, limiting our ability to take a holistic view.
Attendees identified opportunities to foster collaboration, leverage new technology like AI to analyse complex datasets, and use existing data to support integrated conservation efforts.
Moving Forwards
The session’s key message was clear: to achieve biodiversity conservation goals, we must embrace a collaborative, integrated, and efficient approach to gathering and using data. With a focus on long-term funding and improved data collection strategies, we can pave the way for smarter, more effective conservation.