Project: Partially protected areas as buffers to increase the linked social-ecological resilience in coastal ecosystems
Coastal zones are complex social-ecological systems playing a crucial role in the economic, social and political development of many countries. However, they are amongst the areas of the world experiencing the highest rates of pressures. Recently, some studies showed the potential of multiple-use (or partially protected) areas (PPAs) to sustain higher rates of uses and economic revenues than surrounding areas, and buffer against human-induced pressures. Within BUFFER, the main objective is the identification of drivers of resilience in PPAs that are keys to sustain, adapt or transform derived goods and services necessary for human welfare in a context of multiple pressures. Some of the key questions BUFFER will address to reach this main objective are: 1) Do PPAs help to buffer against human-induced functional changes in coastal assemblages? 2) Do PPAs help to buffer against human-induced selection pressures and in protecting phenotypic diversity (in relation to adaptations to future environmental change)? 3) Are uses and users (in relation to commercial and recreational fisheries, physical exploitation and scuba-diving, boating, anchoring and snorkeling) less vulnerable in PPAs? Do PPAs provide new opportunities for users? 4) Can global threats on linked coastal social-ecological systems be more easily managed in PPAs? 5) What are the context-dependent drivers of PPA resilience?
| Acronym | BUFFER |
| Duration | 01/10/2012 - 30/09/2015 |
| Website | visit project website |
| Network | BiodivERsA2 |
| Call | BiodivERsA Call 2011-2012 on Biodiversity dynamics |