Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

The Moore Center for Science at Conservation International is one of the world’s premier conservation research institutes, producing and applying groundbreaking and policy-relevant research to help decision-makers protect nature. To date, Conservation International has published more than 1,100 peer-reviewed articles, many in leading journals including Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

On average, each of our scientific papers is cited more than 45 times by other scholars — a rate exceeding that of any other U.S. conservation organization as well as leading universities.

Here is an archive of our most recent research.

Residual marine protected areas five years on: Are we still favouring ease of establishment over need for protection?

Rodolphe Devillers, Robert L. Pressey, Trevor J. Ward, Alana Grech, John N. Kittinger, Graham J. Edgar, Reg A. Watson

Aquatic Conservation, 30, 1758-1764

September 18, 2020

1.Marine protected areas (MPAs) are today's cornerstone of many marine conservation strategies. Our 2015 study (Devillers et al., 2015) and others have shown, however, that the placement of MPAs is ‘residual’ to commercial uses and biased towards areas of lower economic value or interest. 2.In this paper, we explored the impact of our study on marine science, policy and management practice. 3.We reviewed the papers citing our work and compiled expert opinions on some of the impacts of our study. 4.Results indicate a strong general uptake in the scientific community but more uneven impacts on policy and management in different contexts, with a likely smaller impact of the research on conservation practice.

CITATION

Devillers, R., Pressey, R. L., Ward, T. J., Grech, A., Kittinger, J. N., Edgar, G. J., & Watson, R. A. (2020). Residual marine protected areas five years on: Are we still favouring ease of establishment over need for protection? Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 30(9), 1758–1764. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3374