Table_5_It’s Just Conservation: To What Extent Are Marine Protected Areas in the Irish Sea Equitably Governed and Managed?.XLSX

It is not enough to simply designate a protected area. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Target 11, these sites should be governed and managed effectively and equitably. Equitable (i.e., fair and inclusive) conservation is vital to ensuring effective protection of natural resources while maintaining human well-being. Yet, equity tends to be overlooked in protected area assessments. Three marine protected areas (MPAs) in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland were selected to assess equitable governance and management in the Irish Sea. This is one of the first studies to assess equity across multiple stakeholder groups in MPAs. The Site-level Assessment for Governance and Equity (SAGE) toolkit, developed by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) to address the gap in equity assessments, was used to evaluate equitable governance and management in these MPAs. Based on the three dimensions of equity (recognition, distribution, and procedure), SAGE contains Likert-scale questions to assess good governance by evaluating how different stakeholder groups perceive their protected area’s management and how included they feel in decision-making. Quantitative data from SAGE is complemented by qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with stakeholders to understand the impact MPA management has on local communities and MPA users. The results of this study reveal a lack of communication between MPA authorities and local stakeholders. They highlight the need for co-management in the form of inclusive partnerships as an alternative to the current top-down governance approach favoed in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

仅划定保护区仍存在不足。根据《生物多样性公约》的爱知目标11（Aichi Target 11），此类保护区应当得到高效且公平的治理与管理。公平（即公正与包容）的保护实践，对于在保障自然资源得到有效保护的同时维护人类福祉至关重要。然而，在保护区评估工作中，公平性往往被忽视。本研究选取了英国、北爱尔兰与爱尔兰共和国的三处海洋保护区（Marine Protected Area, MPA），以评估爱尔兰海范围内海洋保护区治理与管理的公平性。本研究是首批针对海洋保护区内多利益相关方群体公平性开展评估的研究之一。研究采用国际环境与发展研究所（International Institute for Environment and Development, IIED）为填补公平性评估领域的研究空白而开发的「治理与公平性现场评估工具包（Site-level Assessment for Governance and Equity, SAGE）」，对上述三处海洋保护区的公平治理与管理状况进行评估。SAGE工具包基于认可性、分配性与程序性三大公平维度，设置了李克特量表（Likert-scale）问题，通过评估不同利益相关方群体对其所在保护区管理工作的观感，以及他们在决策过程中的参与感，来衡量良好治理水平。研究以SAGE工具包采集的定量数据为基础，辅以对利益相关方开展半结构化访谈所获取的定性数据，以深入剖析海洋保护区管理对当地社区及保护区使用者的影响。本研究结果显示，海洋保护区管理机构与当地利益相关方之间存在沟通不畅的问题。研究同时强调，需采用包容性伙伴关系形式开展共同管理，以替代当前在英国与爱尔兰地区盛行的自上而下式治理模式。