title: Beyond protection: Expanding "conservation opportunity" to redefine conservation planning in the 21st century.
abstract: The protected lands estate increased dramatically during the 20th century and forms the backbone of current fisheries and wildlife conservation in North America. However, there is increasing evidence that modern conservation goals cannot be achieved by only focusing on adding new acreage, particularly with opportunistic protection. In the 21st century, flexibility and adaptability of conservation options can be accomplished by expanding the vocabulary of conservation planning beyond protection. We suggest a conceptual framework that considers suites of objectives to translate the broad goal of "conservation" into multiple implementation-specific objectives. These objectives form the "PCRM-PI" approach: protect, connect, restore, manage, partner, and inform. We use a case study to illustrate the limitations of protection-centric planning and how expanding the definition of conservation opportunity can help planners do more on the landscape. We suggest that the PCRM-PI approach with implementation-specific objectives is an effective way to bridge planning-implementation gaps and translate broad, landscape-level conservation goals into implementable actions.
authors: Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT 06269-4087, United States. Electronic address: marjorie.liberati@uconn.edu.
authors: Marjorie R
authors: MR
authors: Liberati
authors: Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT 06269-4087, United States.
authors: Chadwick D
authors: CD
authors: Rittenhouse
authors: Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT 06269-4087, United States.
authors: Jason C
authors: JC
authors: Vokoun
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D005398:Fisheries; D000067936:Natural Resources; D009656:North America
keywords: Conservation opportunity; Conservation planning; Conservation strategies; Implementation gap; Multi-criteria decision making; Protected lands