Session: S-157
Integrating social sciences to ensure human well-being in marine conservation

Marine conservation has been increasingly linked to human well-being, yet these claims are not often verified. Social scientific tools and methods are becoming more widely embraced by marine managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers to provide a means of measuring well-being. This symposium will provide examples of social science integration into a range of frameworks, tools, and approaches in different parts of the world to... [ view more ]

Marine conservation has been increasingly linked to human well-being, yet these claims are not often verified. Social scientific tools and methods are becoming more widely embraced by marine managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers to provide a means of measuring well-being. This symposium will provide examples of social science integration into a range of frameworks, tools, and approaches in different parts of the world to address critical conservation questions linked to human well-being, such as: what are the links between people and the natural environment in specific geographies; what motivates people to behave in ways that strongly impact natural resources; what are the benefits of management and conservation of marine and coastal resources to human well-being; and, what is the vulnerability of communities to climate change? Topics will include: a biocultural approach to understanding resilience in the Pacific, broadening integrated ecosystem assessments to include cultural ecosystem services, interdisciplinary monitoring at sites and at regional levels (South Asia and U.S. affiliated islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific), and other initiatives intended to improve understanding of human dimensions and include local stakeholders in marine conservation. Symposium presentations will explain how social science can improve management decisions and conservation of marine and coastal resources to better support human well-being and sustainability of both the natural and human systems.