Development of an environmental performance indicator framework to evaluate management effectiveness for Jiaozhou Bay Coastal Wetland Special Marine Protected Area, Qingdao, China

The management effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has gained more and more attentions with an increasing research interest worldwide. An Environmental Performance Indicator (EPI) framework is considered to be a good means for MPAs' management planning and assessment. As a peculiar type of MPAs with Chinese characteristics, Special Marine Protected Area (SMPA) is still at an imperfect stage in terms of its operation and management in China. There is a scarcity of research evidence of SMPAs' management and its effectiveness evaluation as well. Focusing on this relatively new research field, this paper aims to establish a conceptual model and an operable EPI framework for examining SMPA's day-to-day management and evaluating its management effects, using Jiaozhou Bay Coastal Wetland SMPA (JZBCWSMPA), the first SMPA of Qingdao, as a case study. The evaluation model and indicator framework are developed via a comprehensive approach taking basic management ideas, international well-known model, widely used indicator frameworks and specific features of the study area into consideration. An expert ranking procedure is also conducted to aggregate the initial indicators. The innovative features of this framework are described, such as it is not only a systematic framework incorporating various kinds of indicators but also specifically practicable for the study area. It is expected that the research outcomes will provide technical supports for JZBCWSMPA's management effectiveness evaluation (MEE) and scientific references for decision-making and guiding for Qingdao's social economic sustainable development. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.