Leandra Regina Goncalves

Coastal zones, particularly urban beaches, are dynamic social–ecological systems under growing cumulative pressures from mass tourism, urbanization, pollution, and unregulated land occupation. These stressors compromise ecological integrity and diminish nature’s contributions essential to human well-being. Understanding beach users’ perceptions is critical for designing socially legitimate and effective coastal management strategies. This article investigates how users of a highly urbanized coastal system perceive Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP), environmental impacts, and conservation challenges, using the urban beaches of Santos (São Paulo state, Brazil) as a representative case of intensively used urban coasts. Primary data were collected between April 2024 and April 2025 using a structured questionnaire administered across different seasons and times of day, yielding 405 valid responses (59% residents, 41% tourists; ages 19 to 65+). Findings reveal that users predominantly value cultural NCPs, emphasizing personal well-being, scenic beauty, and social interaction. Conversely, there is limited recognition of regulating and material contributions, alongside a low awareness of beach ecological fragility, particularly among tourists. This cognitive gap highlights significant challenges for long-term conservation support. By integrating the NCP framework with social differentiation and governance expectations, this research underscores the necessity of incorporating user perspectives into inclusive, context-sensitive coastal planning. The findings provide actionable insights for urban beach governance globally and establish a baseline for future comparative studies in less urbanized or protected coastal environments.

Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks are increasingly recognized as essential for conservation at scale, yet the gap between formal designation and operational reality remains a persistent governance challenge. This study examines MIAMP (São Paulo State MPA Network) in Southeast Brazil to understand how institutional and territorial challenges shape network governance, and what informal integration emerging in the formal network’s absence reveals about MPA governance more broadly. Through participatory workshops, questionnaires, and Social Network Analysis (SNA) with managers across 26 MPAs spanning the São Paulo coastline, we mapped institutional problems, territorial pressures, and informal governance connections structuring the network. Findings reveal that MIAMP, despite existing in legislation since 2008, has never been operationalized, functioning instead as a “paper network” whose primary barrier is not design but chronic institutional underfunding and understaffing at the unit level. Yet in the formal network’s absence, an informal learning network has self-organized: managers connect through shared management demands, territorial proximity, and the practical necessity of addressing problems individual units cannot solve alone. SNA identifies two regional clusters — South/Central and North — connected primarily through the Marine Environmental Protection Areas, which function as structural hubs of this emergent governance system, performing coordination functions the formal MIAMP has not. Seventeen management themes led by Tourism, Public Use, Climate Change, and Environmental Licensing are shared network-wide, constituting the empirical foundation for integration. The informal network’s operational geography extends significantly beyond the 2008 decree, incorporating MPAs established after its baseline, leading us to propose an evidence-based redesign expanding the network from 15 to 29 units. This redesign formalizes what already exists informally rather than imposing new top-down structures. These findings contribute to the international MPA governance literature by demonstrating that informal integration can constitute a functional governance mode, not merely a transitional phase, and that effective network design should be grounded in demonstrated relationships rather than administrative boundaries. As the global community pursues the 30x30 target, MIAMP offers an empirically grounded argument that designation without institutional support produces paper networks, while informal connectivity, properly recognized and resourced, can bridge conservation ambition and governance reality.

Understanding how traditional and coastal communities perceive and interact with nature is key to promoting inclusive conservation. This article examines human–nature interaction in the fishing village of Jubim, located in the Marajó Archipelago, delta of the Amazon River, Brazil. Over 2 years of participatory research, including social cartography, photovoice and community mapping workshops, semi‐structured interviews and territorial excursions guided by traditional experts, data were spatialized in maps with QGIS software and codified based on the Nature's Contributions to People (NCP) framework. We identified 65 georeferenced sites and documented 73 plant and animal species associated with diverse NCP. Material contributions, such as food, medicine and construction materials, were the most frequently cited, while cultural contributions included identity, spirituality and leisure. Participants emphasized the multifunctionality of local ecosystems—mangroves, forests, rivers, crops and the sea—as interconnected spaces sustaining livelihoods and cultural continuity. Nature was described not as a stock of extractable resources but as a living entity requiring reciprocity and care, revealing a deeply relational worldview that challenges utilitarian interpretations of NCP. The findings reveal a diverse range of contributions provided by nature, while also underscoring how local socio‐environmental realities resist simplistic categorizations. It does also highlight the potential of participatory mapping to expand the analytical and practical reach of the NCP framework. Recognizing the multifunctionality of ecosystems and the relational perspectives of Amazonian communities is essential to design conservation and governance strategies that are not only ecologically effective but also socially just. Integrating these perspectives into policy and management frameworks can strengthen adaptive governance and promote knowledge co‐production across different worldviews. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

In the context of the prevailing environmental crisis, one innovative approach with the potential to promote inclusive conservation is payment for environmental services (PES). While numerous studies have documented the efficacy of PES in terrestrial ecosystems, mechanisms tailored to marine ecosystems remain relatively unexplored. The objective of this article is to conduct a systematic literature review to identify the essential components of a PES mechanism for fisheries and to map the lessons, challenges, and opportunities associated with it. Three databases were explored: Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. Using Boolean operators, we searched for articles containing the following terms in the title, abstract, and/or keywords: “payment for ecosystem services” AND “fish*” and “payment for environmental services” AND “fish*”. Twenty-six articles focusing in depth on PES in the context of fisheries were identified. The results indicate that PES is a tool that can reconcile conservation and social objectives while offering numerous benefits for fisheries management. Nevertheless, it is imperative to meticulously evaluate the circumstances under which PES can meaningfully contribute to the inclusive conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems rather than assuming that it is a universal policy panacea.

Amidst global discussions on the 'science we need for the ocean we want' which promotes transformative, participatory, and interdisciplinary science, ocean literacy has emerged as a central theme for the impact of science and societal engagement. Therefore, it is essential that actions promoting ocean literacy prioritize and foster gender equity and its intersections as fundamental pillars for a just, sustainable, and equitable future for all. The underrepresentation of women in ocean science careers and the professional barriers they face, both globally and in Brazil, are already widely recognized in the scientific community. These include difficulties in hiring and career advancement, harassment, lack of support during motherhood, lower publication rates compared to men, and consequent lack of funding. These barriers reinforce gender biases in the scientific community that are deeply rooted due to historical and structural prejudices. The Ocean Decade and the 2030 Agenda have been fostering and discussing the importance of international cooperation and targeted investments to overcome these barriers, as well as the need to prioritize public policies that actively promote women's participation at all levels of ocean research and governance. The lack of disaggregated gender participation data in ocean science and data indicating the absorption of human resources beyond academia hinder the implementation of these policies, highlighting the urgency of creating an environment that values and promotes the participation of girls and women, aiming to achieve a just and egalitarian society, both nationally and globally. In this chapter, we address the challenges related to promoting gender equity from the perspective of initiatives on ocean literacy for the Ocean Decade carried out in Brazil, as well as exploring the opportunities these actions offer to promote gender balance. We also highlight the good practices promoted and co-constructed by the Maré de Ciência Program and its partners in the country, including the participation of girls and women in ocean literacy activities. Using a methodology that combines quantitative and qualitative data, we provide a comprehensive view of female representation in these actions, such as in the Ocean Decade Planning Workshops in Brazil that resulted in the National Plan for the Implementation of the Ocean Decade, the Blue School Brazil Program, the Ocean Olympiad, the Ocean Youth Ambassador Forums, and actions carried out in vulnerable communities in the city of Santos/Brazil. This abstract will provide valuable data and discussions on the intersection between gender equity, ocean literacy, and ocean science, demonstrating the importance of promoting an inclusive and diverse approach to contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with special attention to SDGs 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), and 14 (Life Below Water).

Resumo O ambientalismo frequentemente deixa de abordar, e por vezes reproduz, estruturas coloniais que marginalizam povos indígenas e comunidades locais. Essa exclusão histórica reforça a urgência de abordagens decoloniais e inclusivas para enfrentar as crises interconectadas das mudanças climáticas, perda de biodiversidade e degradação oceânica. O protagonismo dessas comunidades, aliado ao reconhecimento de seus sistemas de conhecimento e experiências territoriais, é essencial para moldar decisões climáticas globais mais equitativas. Políticas, dados socioambientais e soluções devem ser co-criados localmente, por meio de processos transdisciplinares que promovam colaboração genuína e não práticas extrativas. Enfrentar o nexo clima-biodiversidade-oceano exige governança multinível e interseccional pautada na equidade e na justiça socioambiental, garantindo que as respostas sejam informadas e responsáveis perante as realidades daqueles mais afetados.

Environmentalism has often failed to address, and at times has reproduced, colonial structures that marginalize Indigenous and local peoples. This historical exclusion reinforces the need for decolonial and inclusive approaches in addressing the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ocean degradation. The protagonism of Indigenous and local communities, alongside the recognition of their knowledge systems and territorial experiences, is essential for shaping equitable global climate decisions. Policies, socio-environmental data, and solutions must be co-created locally, through transdisciplinary processes that foster genuine collaboration rather than extractive practices. Addressing the climate-biodiversity-ocean nexus requires multilevel and intersectorial governance grounded in equity and environmental justice, ensuring that responses are informed by and accountable to the realities of those most affected.