Identifying conflict potential in a coastal and marine environment using participatory mapping

Area of Science:

• Marine spatial planning
• Social-ecological systems
• Conservation science

Background:

• Coastal and marine planning faces conflicts due to competing resource uses.
• Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a key strategy, but often lacks crucial social data.
• Participatory mapping, effective for terrestrial planning, is underutilized in marine contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To collect social data for MSP using participatory mapping in northwestern Australia.
• To identify and map social values and potential conflicts in marine environments.
• To assess the utility of participatory mapping for informing MSP decisions.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 167 in-depth interviews with participant mapping of place values along an extensive coastline.
• Inductively identified 17 social values from transcribed interviews and digitized maps.
• Classified values (consumptive/non-consumptive) and used GIS for spatial conflict potential analysis.

Main Results:

• Biodiversity, physical landscape, and Aboriginal culture emerged as highly valued.
• Conflict potential mapping identified significant areas of incompatibility between different values.
• Three nearshore marine protected areas showed conflict potential in over a third of their area.

Conclusions:

• Participatory mapping effectively gathers essential social data for marine spatial planning.
• Conflict potential mapping provides critical insights for managing contested marine areas.
• This integrated approach enhances decision-making for effective marine conservation and management.