TY - JOUR

T1 - Biosphere reserves' management effectiveness-A systematic literature review and a research agenda

AU - Ferreira, Ana Filipa

AU - Zimmermann, Heike

AU - Santos, Rui

AU - von Wehrden, Henrik

N1 - Funding: The first author was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), under the grant PD/BD/114050/2015. CENSE—Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, is financed by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UID/AMB/04085/2019 and UIDB/04085/2020). The second author is supported by the State of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur) financed from Nieders Vorab within the research project “Bridging the Great Divide” (grant number ZN3188).

PY - 2020/7/1

Y1 - 2020/7/1

N2 - Research about biosphere reserves' management effectiveness can contribute to better understanding of the existing gap between the biosphere reserve concept and its implementation. However, there is a limited understanding about where and how research about biosphere reserves' management effectiveness has been conducted, what topics are investigated, and which are the main findings. This study addresses these gaps in the field, building on a systematic literature review of scientific papers. To this end, we investigated characteristics of publications, scope, status and location of biosphere reserves, research methods and management effectiveness. The results indicate that research is conceptually and methodologically diverse, but unevenly distributed. Three groups of papers associated with different goals of biosphere reserves were identified: capacity building, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. In general, each group is associated with different methodological approaches and different regions of the world. The results indicate the importance of scale dynamics and trade-offs between goals, which are advanced as important leverage points for the success of biosphere reserves. Building on the gaps identified in the literature, a research agenda is proposed, focusing on the need to investigate mechanisms for holistic research, outcomes and trade-offs, transformations for social-ecological fit and institutions for integrated management across scales.

AB - Research about biosphere reserves' management effectiveness can contribute to better understanding of the existing gap between the biosphere reserve concept and its implementation. However, there is a limited understanding about where and how research about biosphere reserves' management effectiveness has been conducted, what topics are investigated, and which are the main findings. This study addresses these gaps in the field, building on a systematic literature review of scientific papers. To this end, we investigated characteristics of publications, scope, status and location of biosphere reserves, research methods and management effectiveness. The results indicate that research is conceptually and methodologically diverse, but unevenly distributed. Three groups of papers associated with different goals of biosphere reserves were identified: capacity building, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. In general, each group is associated with different methodological approaches and different regions of the world. The results indicate the importance of scale dynamics and trade-offs between goals, which are advanced as important leverage points for the success of biosphere reserves. Building on the gaps identified in the literature, a research agenda is proposed, focusing on the need to investigate mechanisms for holistic research, outcomes and trade-offs, transformations for social-ecological fit and institutions for integrated management across scales.

KW - Biodiversity conservation

KW - Biosphere reserve

KW - Leverage points

KW - Management effectiveness

KW - Research agenda

KW - Social-ecological systems

KW - Sustainability science

KW - Sustainable development

KW - Systematic literature review

KW - Trade-offs

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089281488&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/83192a95-2e35-3e29-b62f-7ae2d207c07e/

U2 - 10.3390/SU12145497

DO - 10.3390/SU12145497

M3 - Scientific review articles

AN - SCOPUS:85089281488

VL - 12

JO - Sustainability

JF - Sustainability

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 12

M1 - 5497

ER -