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Systematic Conservation Planning with Marxan and Marzone
Broome, Western Australia
10-11 July 2008
Marxan (Ian Ball and Hugh Possingham, 2000) is a software program used to support the design of marine and terrestrial protected areas worldwide. Using Marxan, conservation planners can identify an efficient system of conservation sites that include a suite of biodiversity targets at a minimal cost. Marxan provides a unique method for designing reserves that is systematic and repeatable.
It is the most utilized conservation planning tool worldwide; over 60 countries, 1100 users, and 600 organizations use MARXAN to support the design of terrestrial and marine reserves. For example, it has been used to help zone the Great Barrier Marine Park, design marine reserves in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, and set spatial priorities in the Romanian Carpathians to protect large carnivores. MARXAN is available at no charge from The Spatial Ecology Lab: http://www.ecology.uq.edu.au/Marxan.htm.
The increasing complexity of spatial planning problems has lead to the development of MarZone, a new software program that extends on the capabilities of Marxan. MarZone incorporates new functionalities to support spatial planning with multiple zones, multiple costs and multiple objectives. Using MarZone, practitioners in natural resource management can identify configurations of sites that contribute to a range of management objectives. These sites can be clumped into zones to accommodate different types of activities. This makes MarZone well placed to support local and regional planning, where the objective is often to achieve a balance across a range of competing uses.
Course Description
Courses are generally structured as a one or two day workshop that includes an introduction to key concepts and principles of systematic conservation planning followed by hands-on practical sessions designed to provide participants with the basic knowledge and skills necessary to use MARXAN and MARZONE in a conservation planning exercise. During the course, we will cover:
- Key concepts in systematic conservation planning
- Overview of information requirements
- Understanding the essential MARXAN input files
- Parameter setting in MARXAN
- Running MARXAN, understanding results and viewing in GIS platform
- Advanced planning with MARZONE
The course is partially supported by the CERF funded Australian Environmental Decision Analysis hub (AEDA) and the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust.
Course Instructors
All instructors are based at The University of Queensland’s Ecology Centre in The Spatial Ecology Laboratory (http://www.uq.edu.au/spatialecology/).
Participants should have basic technical knowledge of excel and ArcGIS/ArcInfo.
Lists of new courses, and information about past courses, can be found HERE
