Investing in Planning: A Path Toward Sustainable, Inclusive Change

Last year, the coastal town of Santa Cruz, famed for its towering waves and redwoods, played host to two first-of-their-kind gatherings focused on marine protected areas (MPAs). The events were supported by two Lenfest Ocean Program-funded planning grants awarded to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and Greater Farallones Association, Enhancing Resilience in National Marine Sanctuaries through Climate-Informed Ecosystem Restoration and Protecting Whales in a Changing Climate through MPA Collaboration. Recognizing that changing ocean conditions challenge traditional MPA management, these planning grants aimed to improve how climate change is integrated into MPA strategies. Two convenings brought managers and experts to Santa Cruz where participants identified specific challenges, opportunities, and strategies related to two of the most pressing topics facing MPAs.

Enhancing Resilience in National Marine Sanctuaries through Climate-Informed Ecosystem Restoration supported the development and execution of the Climate-Informed Ecosystem Restoration in MPAs (CERM) Symposium, which convened 60 managers and experts from across the U.S. to develop recommendations for restoring degraded coral and kelp ecosystems in a changing climate. Protecting Whales in a Changing Climate through MPA Collaboration brought together managers and experts from Canada to Colombia to discuss how to more effectively reduce the threat of ship strikes on vulnerable whales as they shift their feeding and migration patterns due to climate change. While the focus of the two workshops was different, the lessons learned from these efforts to support extensive planning were not.

Jillian Neuberger National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

1. Dedicating Time and Funding to Planning Sets the Stage for Effective Events

Gathering people from across the U.S. and the world in Santa Cruz was no easy feat. This required relationship-building, extensive research, numerous meetings, and dogged determination. Convenings are only as successful as the participants in the room. This meant early planning was critical to ensure the right mix of attendees. Some participants needed approvals to participate, such as from a tribal council or via an official governmental invitation sent to a higher authority. Others had financial and situational constraints that needed to be addressed preemptively. Finally, peoples’ time is limited. Organizers were careful to ensure they recognized the value of this event to their work and needs.     

Similarly, co-developing the meeting agenda and outcomes with the participants was critical to meeting their needs and priorities, and not replicating any work. The complex topics of both convenings required a broad mix of expertise; through ongoing engagement with attendees, organizers arranged a mix of discussions around research, policy and permitting, co-production of knowledge, and more resulting in a truly interdisciplinary and multifaceted experience. This approach allowed the events to reflect participants’ interests as well as represent the breadth of knowledge and skills required to address the challenges climate change poses for MPAs. Diverse and extensive engagement throughout the planning process ensured buy-in, set clear expectations, and led to more successful outcomes.

2. In-Person Planning Convenings Can Deliver Multiple, Unexpected Benefits    

In-person convenings are expensive, logistically challenging, and time-intensive, so virtual convenings—especially since the COVID-19 pandemic—are becoming more common. Virtual events provide incredible inclusion and accessibility benefits and reduce financial and environmental burdens. However, in some cases, bringing people together in-person is unique in its ability to catalyze durable collaborations, and provide multiple benefits beyond the meeting itself.     

Moreover, the informal discussions that organically occur at in-person events can reveal unexpected opportunities and insights. At the whale workshop, for example, one attendee mentioned offhand during the coffee break that his region lacked capacity and expertise to perform necropsies, the method by which trained professionals diagnose the cause of death when a whale carcass washes ashore. This gap in knowledge was limiting their ability to document, and mitigate, ship strikes. Hearing this, another attendee connected him to partners that host free necropsy trainings, and he was swiftly offered a spot. Such connections create lasting partnerships long after the event concludes.

Finally, in-person convenings enable side meetings during and around the event. The CERM Symposium was followed by two different meetings by different teams looking to benefit from the fact CERM had brought them all together. These side meetings aligned with CERM’s broader goals around effective MPA management, and their timing around CERM ensured that climate-informed restoration was a prominent topic across these discussions.

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

3. Early Planning Investments Pay Dividends in Durable Outcomes

Investing in planning is catalytic; it can result in outcomes that greatly exceed the initial investment. Events like the whale workshop and CERM symposium lay the foundation for high-impact, multi-partner actions. Much like the foundation of a house, no one sees the foundation once the house is constructed, but the foundation is essential to its success.

While the true outcomes of the CERM Symposium and whale workshop may not be known for years, the collaborations and joint projects they have inspired are already becoming clear. Six months after the whale workshop, a new collaborative has formed among workshop participants and between two different MPA networks in North America and Central America. The Northeast Pacific Collaborative to Reduce Vessel Impacts on Whales, will leverage participants’ extensive reach to boost the priorities identified by workshop participants. Those priorities, and next steps for the Collaborative, are currently being developed via a Strategic Research and Conservation Plan. Since the CERM Symposium, there have been many follow-on conversations across and within different organizations and teams. CERM has also inspired at least one collaborative, cross-regional funding proposal from symposium attendees focused on coral restoration research. The core concepts and principles discussed at CERM have been summarized in a new report—10 Challenges and Opportunities for Climate-Smart Restoration in Marine Protected Areas—designed as a tool to help CERM participants build on the foundation laid by the symposium.

This blog was co-authored by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Greater Farallones Association.