Improving the knowledge management of marine megafauna strandings.

Publisher: Academic Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0401664 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1095-8630 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 03014797 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Environ Manage Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London ; New York, Academic Press.

Knowledge Management* ; Organizations*; Sustainable Development ; Brazil

Although the marine megafauna often strands on beaches around the world, such as sea turtles and whales, stranding data are poorly managed and incorporated into management and conservation strategies. Here we use a knowledge value chain framework to call attention for the urgent need to improve our data architecture and knowledge management on marine megafauna strandings. We use Brazil, a continental megadiverse federative republic, as study model. After describing the main components and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the current Brazilian data architecture, we propose 10 practical measures for its improvement involving researchers, companies, non-governmental organizations, legislators, policy makers, public agents, citizen scientists, and local communities. Although Brazil has notable strengths such as comprehensive environmental legislation, hundreds of scientists and dozens of prestigious research institutions, stranding data is not translated into technical-scientific knowledge; technical-scientific knowledge is not transformed into effective public regulations; deficient regulations lead to bad decisions and limited actions, which in turn result in ineffective management and conservation strategies. In light of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), we propose (1) expanding standardized beach monitoring projects to the entire Brazilian coast; (2) creating a governmental database with FAIR principles; (3) encouraging the development of broad citizen science initiatives; (4) funding scientists and research institutions; (5) boosting outreach activities among researchers to popularize the scientific knowledge; (6) raising awareness among legislators and policy makers on the problem of strandings; (7) updating the existing legal provisions on the environmental licensing of activities developed at sea; (8) hiring new environmental analysts and inspectors and improving the infrastructure of executing environmental agencies; (9) strengthening existing conservation networks with multiple stakeholders; and (10) making the results of the management and conservation strategies broadly accessible to society. These recommendations may also apply to other coastal countries around the world.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Braulio A. Santos reports financial support was provided by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development. Bruno S. S. P. Oliveira reports financial support was provided by Coordination of Higher Education Personnel Improvement.
(Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Keywords: Brazil; Environmental legislation; Marine conservation; Marine mammal; Sea turtle; Sustainable management

Date Created: 20231215 Date Completed: 20240115 Latest Revision: 20240115

20240115

10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119815

38100861