The Bird's Head Seascape Marine Protected Area network—Preventing biodiversity and ecosystem service loss amidst rapid change in Papua, Indonesia

The Bird's Head Seascape (BHS), Papua, Indonesia is located within the epicenter of global marine biodiversity and has been the focus of recent conservation efforts to protect marine resources. Here, we provide an overview of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) progress in the BHS over the past decade, including establishment history, changes in management effectiveness and ecosystem health, as well as examining trends in tourism growth. While generally viewed as a conservation success story, we reflect on both successes and challenges in the BHS, identifying where we need to continue to improve and adapt in response to rapid economic and environmental change. As of 2020, BHS MPAs cover 5.1 million ha across 23 MPAs. As expected, management effectiveness is steadily increasing in BHS MPAs—although newer MPAs face substantial capacity gaps. Tourism is rapidly growing—with an almost 3,000% increase in tourist visits between 2007 and 2018. Overall, hard coral cover in monitored BHS MPAs remained stable at 33% from 2010 to 2019, although trends in reef fish biomass were more variable. Given continued conservation challenges in the region, BHS MPAs are successfully preventing biodiversity loss while providing ecosystem services for local communities.