Applied Environmental Decision Analysis (AEDA) Research Facility

Introduction to and applications of the systematic conservation planning software, Marxan and Marxan with Zones -

July 18, 2010, 9:00-4:00pm Denpasar, Bali Indonesia.

WORKSHOP IS NOW COMPLETE - PLEASE CONTACT CARISSA KLEIN IF YOU WOULD LIKE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORKSHOP - Carissa Klein, c.klein@uq.edu.au

Note: WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE HERE

Instructors: Hugh Possingham (h.possingham@uq.edu.au), Carissa Klein (c.klein@uq.edu.au)

LOCATION: Sanur Agung Hotel Denpasar Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai No. 147 Sanur, Bali, 80361, Bali, Indonesia

description We held a 1-day short course introducing the Marxan software, its new developments, and novel applications applied to tropical marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Marxan is now the most widely used conservation planning software in the world and is available from http://www.uq.edu.au/marxan for FREE. It was used to rezone the Great Barrier Reef, the single biggest implemented systematic conservation plan in the world, and has users in 100 countries from hundreds of agencies.

Workshop outline

First, we provided a basic overview of the software, including a description of how it works, what types of problems it can help solve, and its data requirements. We then discussed the recent developments in the software that can better accommodate information on socioeconomics, catastrophic events (e.g. coral bleaching), and connectivity:

Marxan with Zones, an extension of Marxan software that has the ability to identify multiple zones (e.g. marine protected areas of various protection levels and resource use zones) and incorporate multiple socioeconomic costs into a systematic design framework.
Marxan and the probability of environmental catastrophe, a version of Marxan that can identify protected areas while minimizing the chance that they are impacted by an environmental catastrophe (e.g. coral bleaching, hurricanes).
Marxan with connectivity, a version of Marxan that can identify highly connected conservation areas (along rivers, for larval connectivity, etc.)

We also outlined the technical aspects of how each piece of software operates. In addition, we presented case-studies highlighting the practical aspects and challenges of applying the software to terrestrial, freshwater, and marine conservation planning problems.

Speakers

In addition to Hugh and Carissa, speakers (and topics) included Dr Maria Beger (Connectivity, Coral Triangle), Dr Bob Smith (Moving boundaries, Mozambique) and Dr Hedley Grantham (Zoning, Raja Ampat).