TY - JOUR

T1 - A Social–Ecological Systems Framework as a Tool for Understanding the Effectiveness of Biosphere Reserve Management

AU - Ferreira, Ana F.

AU - Zimmermann, Heike

AU - Santos, Rui

AU - Wehrden, Henrik

N1 - Funding Information: Thanks to the Portuguese MAB Committee, and the MAB community that participated in the euromab2017 and MAB Youth Forum, for the enthusiastic discussions about biosphere reserves. We also thank Stefan Partelow for the insights about the Ostrom framework, and the anonymous reviewers, for the comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. The first author is supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), under the grant PD/BD/114050/2015, and CENSE-Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, financed by FCT (UID/AMB/04085/2013). 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). Publisher Copyright: © 2018 by the authors.

PY - 2018/10/10

Y1 - 2018/10/10

N2 - Biosphere reserves aim to reconciliate social and economic development with biodiversity conservation through complex spatial and governance arrangements. However, there is a generalized lack of information about how biosphere reserves are being managed and governed, and at what point their goals are being achieved, which limits a better understanding of the factors influencing biosphere reserve management effectiveness. Building on a systematic review of existing empirical studies, we developed a framework that identifies the main features related to biosphere reserve management effectiveness. We identified four main categories—context, inputs, process and outcomes—and 53 sub-categories, which interact at different scales and shape biosphere reserve effectiveness. We found that the capacity of biosphere reserves to achieve their goals is not only related to the way they are managed/governed, or to the inputs invested, but to many social and ecological contextual factors. We also identified benefits and impacts that were associated to biosphere reserves around the world. Comparing to other social–ecological system frameworks, ours provides a more inclusive approach, since it integrates the findings of studies with different research perspectives, considers a plurality of values attributed to natural resources, and the social–ecological system’s scales dynamics.

AB - Biosphere reserves aim to reconciliate social and economic development with biodiversity conservation through complex spatial and governance arrangements. However, there is a generalized lack of information about how biosphere reserves are being managed and governed, and at what point their goals are being achieved, which limits a better understanding of the factors influencing biosphere reserve management effectiveness. Building on a systematic review of existing empirical studies, we developed a framework that identifies the main features related to biosphere reserve management effectiveness. We identified four main categories—context, inputs, process and outcomes—and 53 sub-categories, which interact at different scales and shape biosphere reserve effectiveness. We found that the capacity of biosphere reserves to achieve their goals is not only related to the way they are managed/governed, or to the inputs invested, but to many social and ecological contextual factors. We also identified benefits and impacts that were associated to biosphere reserves around the world. Comparing to other social–ecological system frameworks, ours provides a more inclusive approach, since it integrates the findings of studies with different research perspectives, considers a plurality of values attributed to natural resources, and the social–ecological system’s scales dynamics.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - biodiversity

KW - biosphere reserve

KW - conservation

KW - governance

KW - management effectiveness

KW - protected area

KW - social-ecological system

KW - sustainable develeopment

KW - systematic review

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054744667&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/1fcbaa75-ccc1-3411-abf0-651100a75250/

U2 - 10.3390/su10103608

DO - 10.3390/su10103608

M3 - Scientific review articles

VL - 10

JO - Sustainability

JF - Sustainability

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 10

M1 - 3608

ER -