Introduction
Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) were introduced in 2010 by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as areas that achieve long-term and effective in-situ biodiversity conservation outside of protected areas (CBD, 2010). Consequently, OECMs represent a novel conservation approach where conservation outcomes are incidental to existing spatial management practices. In other words, OECMs are identified and recognized rather than specifically designated. The definition, guiding principles, common characteristics and criteria for identifying OECMs were agreed upon by CBD parties in 2018 (CBD, 2018). According to CBD Decision 14/8 (CBD, 2018), key criteria for an area to be identified as an OECM include geographic definition, governance and management, achieving positive and sustained long-term outcomes for biodiversity conservation, including associated ecosystem functions, services and locally relevant values such as cultural, spiritual, and socioeconomic aspects where applicable. Subsequently, additional guidance has been developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and other global organizations to facilitate the identification, recognition and reporting of OECMs1 (FAO, 2019; FAO, 2022; Garcia et al., 2021; ICES, 2021; IUCN-WCPA, 2019) to contribute to the attainment of Target 14.5 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN, 2015) and Action Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD, 2010; CBD, 2022). The latter emphasizes the need to conserve at least 30% of terrestrial and marine areas globally by 2030 through ecologically representative, effectively and equitably managed, and well-connected networks of protected areas and OECMs (CBD, 2022).
In recent years there has been increasing research and policy interest in OECMs and numerous countries worldwide have made significant efforts to identify and recognize OECMs to support the implementation of spatially-explicit conservation targets. According to the most recent update of the World Database on Protected Areas (May 2023; WDPA, 2023), 671 OECMs have been recognized by only nine countries worldwide (none in Europe).
This protocol aims to establish the methodological approach for a Scoping Review (ScR) with the following objectives:
identify and map the available evidence on assessing the potential of OECMs to contribute to spatial conservation targets,
examine the methodologies employed in research on assessing potential OECMs,
identify the actual spatial contribution of potential OECMs to conservation targets,
identify and discuss good practices and failures acknowledged in the literature,
provide insights into the evidence-based knowledge about OECMs and information on how potential OECMs contribute to the spatial targets set by CBD.
Review question
The overall research question that will guide the ScR is: What is the current knowledge regarding the contribution of OECMs to biodiversity conservation targets? The ScR will aim to address the following sub-questions:
1. What is the geographical distribution of studies that have assessed potential OECMs and their contribution to biodiversity conservation?
2. What are the characteristics of the potential OECMs studied in terms of governance type, sector, realm, conservation objectives, and rationale?
3. What methodologies have been employed to assess the potential of OECMs in contributing to biodiversity conservation?
4. What is the spatial contribution (percentage of area covered) by potential OECMs?
5. What are the good practices and failures acknowledged in the literature?
Inclusion/exclusion criteria
The inclusion criteria of the ScR, which serve as the basis for determining the sources to be considered for inclusion in the review, will be developed in accordance with the "Participants, Concept and Context (PCC)" mnemonic (Table 1).
Table 1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the Scoping Review in correspondence with the "Participants, Concept and Context, PCC" mnemonic and evidence types and sources.
| Inclusion criteria | Exclusion
criteria |
|---|
Participants
Potential other effective
area-based conservation
measures (OECMs) | Potential OECMs governed under a range of governance types i.e., by
governments (at various levels), private individuals, organizations or
companies, indigenous peoples and local communities and shared
governance (i.e., governance by various rights holders and stakeholders
together).
Potential OECMs established by all sectors (e.g., transport, offshore
energy, fisheries, aquaculture, maritime, tourism, defence, archaeological
heritages, etc.).
Potential OECMs with primary, secondary or ancillary conservation
objectives. | --- |
Concept
Assessing potential OECMs | All studies that assess potential OECMs.
All types of methodologies and metrics applied to assess the effectiveness
of potential OECMs to deliver biodiversity conservation outcomes and
contribute to spatial conservation targets. | --- |
Context
Global terrestrial,
freshwater and marine
realm | Studies in:
- terrestrial, freshwater and marine realms,
- globally | --- |
EVIDENCE TYPES &
SOURCES | - peer-review literature
- grey literature
- all years of publication
- all publication stages, subject areas, and source types
- experimental and observational studies
- studies published in languages competent to the researchers’ team
(e.g., English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, etc.) | --- |
Participants
The ScR will consider potential ΟECMs, established by any sector, such as transport, offshore energy, fisheries, aquaculture, maritime, tourism, defense and archaeological heritages. These potential OECMs may have primary, secondary or ancillary conservation objectives and can be governed by different entities, including governments (at various levels), private individuals, organizations or companies, indigenous peoples and/or local communities, as well as shared governance involving multiple rights holders and stakeholders.
Concept
The ScR will focus on the assessment of potential OECMs and how their contribution to spatial conservation targets has been addressed in the existing scientific literature. All studies that assess potential OECMs, along with the various methodologies and metrics applied to evaluate their effectiveness in delivering biodiversity conservation outcomes and contributing to spatial conservation targets will be reviewed.
Context
The ScR will consider studies conducted in the terrestrial, freshwater, and marine realms worldwide.
Types of sources
This ScR will encompass both scientific (e.g., articles, book chapters, letters, editorials, books, data papers) and grey literature (e.g., non-published academic research, theses, policy papers, organizational papers and reports, conference abstracts and papers). Scientific literature will be sourced from online databases and grey literature from pre-print archives, organizational websites, and web-based search engines, and suggestions from topic experts. There will be no restrictions on publication year, publication stage (final or in press), subject area, or source type. All document types will be considered, except for evidence synthesis such as systematic, scoping, rapid, and narrative reviews. Language limitations will be applied during the literature search process to align with language competence of the authors. Consequently, studies published in languages other than English, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Spanish will be excluded from the ScR.
Methodology
The proposed ScR will follow the methodology outlined by Arksey and O'Malley (2005), as further developed by Levac et al. (2010) and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology (Peters et al., 2020). The ScR encompass the following nine stages, as recommended by the JBI methodology: 1. Defining and aligning the objectives and questions; 2. Developing and aligning the inclusion criteria with the objectives and questions; 3. Describing the planned approach for evidence searching, selection, data extraction and presentation of the evidence; 4. Conducting the evidence search; 5. Selecting the relevant evidence; 6. Extracting the evidence; 7. Analyzing the evidence; 8. Presenting the results; 9. Summarizing the evidence, drawing conclusions and identifying any implications of the findings (Peters et al., 2020).
The ScR protocol and final review paper will adhere to the Preferred Reporting for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) developed by Tricco et al. (2018). The SUMARI Protocol Template for Scoping Reviews in Word format (https://sumari.jbi.global/) was used to guide the development of this ScR protocol.
Search strategy
The bibliographic search will be conducted in three databases/ platforms, namely: (a) Scopus, (b) Web of Science – Core Collection, and (c) Google Scholar. A combination of keywords will be used in the search, adapted to meet the specific search specifications of each database. The search will be conducted within the title, abstract and keywords of the documents (Table 2). For the Scopus and Web of Science databases, all documents retrieved from the search will be considered for eligibility. In the case of the web-based search using the Google Scholar database, only the first 100 hits will be considered (Haddaway et al., 2015). Eligible documents will also be sought in other sources such as organizational libraries and websites, preprint archives, documents repositories, reference lists of the included documents from the databases search and documents suggested by topic experts and stakeholders.
Table 2. Details of Scoping Review search strategy per database, i.e., name of the database, date of search, search query, and results (as the number of documents returned by the search).
| Database 1: | Scopus |
Date of
search: | March 19, 2023 |
| Query: | TITLE-ABS-KEY ("other effective area-based conservation measure*" OR "other effective area based
conservation measure*" OR "other conservation measure*" OR "OECM*" OR "OEABCM*") |
| Results: | 351 documents |
| Database 2: | Web of Science – Core Collection |
Date of
search: | March 19, 2023 |
| Query: | TS=("other effective area-based conservation measure*" OR "other effective area based conservation
measure*" OR "other conservation measure*" OR "OECM*" OR "OEABCM*") |
| Results 1: | 229 documents |
| Database 3 | Scholar Google |
Date of
search: | March 19, 2023 |
| Query | conservation ("other effective area-based conservation measure*" OR "other effective area based
conservation measure*" OR "other conservation measure*" OR "OECM*" OR "OEABCM*") |
| Results: | 996 documents (only the first 100 hits were considered) |
Study/source of evidence selection
Following the search, all identified citations will be uploaded to Covidence, a web-based collaboration software platform designed to streamline the production of systematic and other literature reviews. Any duplicate citations will be removed during this stage. The document selection process will be conducted using a team approach, as recommended by Levac et al. (2010). Twelve independent reviewers will be involved in the selection process. Two reviewers will initially screen each title and abstract of the identified papers against the predefined inclusion criteria (Table 1). Papers that meet the inclusion criteria will proceed to the next stage. The full text of the initially selected documents will be carefully assessed by the reviewers against the inclusion criteria. Any sources that do not meet the inclusion criteria will be excluded from the review. Detailed records will be kept of the reasons for excluding specific sources, and this information will be reported in the final ScR paper. In case of any disagreements between the reviewers during any stage of the selection process, a third independent reviewer will be consulted to resolve the conflicts. The results of the search and the document selection process will be reported comprehensively in the final ScR paper. A flow diagram following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines (Tricco et al., 2018) will be presented to illustrate the search and selection process.
Data extraction
Data extraction from the documents included in the ScR will be carried out by two independent reviewers using a data extraction tool, i.e., a charting table aligned to the objective and the questions of the ScR (see Extended data (Petza et al., 2023)). The data extracted will include specific details related to the participants, concept, context, study methods and key findings relevant to the review objective. To ensure consistency and facilitate collaboration and interaction among reviewers, the data extraction tool will be integrated into the Covidence systematic review management software. This software will help maintain consistency in the extraction process, allow for seamless cooperation between the reviewers, and ensure that the extracted data is consistent and aligned with the objectives and questions of the ScR.
Data analysis and presentation
The evidence synthesized through the ScR will be presented in alignment with the review objective and specific questions. The data will be presented using a combination of graphical and tabular formats, utilizing appropriate software packages and tools. Graphical representations, such as charts, graphs, or diagrams, will be used to visually display relevant information and trends identified in the included studies. These visuals can help convey patterns, relationships, and key findings effectively. In addition to the graphical and tabular presentations, a narrative summary will be included. This summary will provide a coherent and comprehensive description of the findings, explaining how the results align with the review's objective and specific questions. It will offer a synthesis of the key themes, trends, and patterns identified in the included studies.
