David Antonio Gill

Analyzing the Social Impacts of Marine Protection in the Sunda-Banda Seascape · June 1, 2019 - May 31, 2020 PI · Awarded by: World Wildlife Fund · $50,000.00 Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an integral component of local, national, and international strategies for fisheries management and biodiversity conservation (Halpern et al. 2008; Fox et al. 2012a). Though the ecological benefits of MPAs are well studied and generally accepted (e.g., Halpern et al. 2009), MPA contributions to poverty alleviation and sustainable development remain the focus of a highly contentious policy debate. Advocates tout MPAs as a win-win strategy for conservation and poverty alleviation (Russ et al. 2004; Leisher et al. 2007), while skeptics argue that MPAs place the welfare of fish above the wellbeing of impoverished fishing communities (e.g., Christie 2004) In fact, evidence suggests that both perspectives may have merit (Mascia et al. 2010; Wamukota et al. 2012). Under certain conditions, MPAs can provide both biodiversity and social benefits (Russ et al. 2004; Leisher et al. 2007), while in other settings tradeoffs exist between biodiversity conservation and social welfare (Christie 2004). Because scientists have not yet developed a convincing explanation for these variations in social and biological performance, decision-makers set marine resource policy in ignorance (Agrawal & Redford 2006), not knowing whether their choices will benefit people, the environment, or both. A partnership of conservation scholars, practitioners and policy-makers, led by WWF has developed simple yet rigorous monitoring systems for documenting and explaining the variation in MPA performance in Eastern Indonesia. In the Sunda-Banda Seascape, we monitor the human well-being impacts of seven MPAs, as well as the characteristics of marine resource governance. WWF seeks analytical support on statistical matching and the computation of treatment effects.

David H. Smith fellowship · September 2016 - June 2018 Post-Doctoral Researcher · Awarded by: Society of Conservation Biology · $150,000.00 Research under the theme: The social impacts of marine protected areas: A comparative study of the USA and beyond.

Luc Hoffman Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowship · February 2014 - September 2016 Post-Doctoral Fellow · Awarded by: Luc Hoffman Institute/National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) Research under the theme: Solving the Mystery of Marine Protected Area (MPA) Performance: linking governance, conservation, ecosystem services, and human well-being.

External Relationships

French Foundation for Biodiversity Research (FRB)
Meridian Enviornmental Consulting Agency
UNIVERSITAS PAPUA

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