Impact assessment of the Arvoredo Marine Biological Reserve on ecosystem services and its stakeholders

Abstract

The research proposes an impact analysis of marine protected areas integrating a stakeholder analysis and ecosystem services impact assessment, in order to expand social learning and help the adoption of new management and engagement strategies, using the Reserva Biológica Marinha do Arvoredo (ReBio) as a case study. ReBio protects an archipelago located on the coast of Santa Catarina, between Florianópolis and Bombinhas, contributing to biodiversity maintenance and fisheries production in the region. The methodological integration had three stages: Stakeholders Mapping and Analysis, Ecosystem Services Identification and Impact Assessment on ecosystem services. Twenty-one stakeholders categories were found, distributed in all 8 possible groups with different engagement characteristics: power, legitimacy and relationship network. A total of twenty-one marine ecosystem services have been identified, two are provision, eight are regulation and eleven are cultural ecosystem services. The impact assessment on ecosystem services and stakeholders made it possible to verify five negative impacts and sixteen positive impacts, resulting from the creation and maintenance of ReBio activities, all impacts are differently distributed and have varying intensities. The method adopted was able to highlight the interdependence of the social implications of management decisions by understanding the impacts on ecosystem services and this effects on the stakeholders, this result highlights the main issues to be worked on future relationship between ReBio and its surroundings. This approach can be replicated in other protected areas and the knowledge produced can be used to change beliefs and understandings about the role of ecosystems in human well-being and, strategically, help environmental agencies in articulating and communicating their interests to mitigate the distribution of negative impacts and the enhancement of shared benefits generated by Brazilian conservation units.