Conservation and management targets for valued features of sandy beaches

Sandy shores are among the ecosystems most valued by humans. Their scenic vistas contribute to their importance as recreational assets, as well as their value as for real-estate development; some beach-associated fauna and flora are important resource species for subsistence, recreational and commercial harvesters; and beaches play a key role in the life-history of threatened vertebrates (like turtles and seabirds) - animals that tend to be preferentially valued by society. There are also several under-valued services provided by beaches that support human well-being. As a result, there are many competing uses of sandy shores and their natural resources, which necessitates management of people and their activities, and conservation of biodiversity and associated ecological processes. In order to ensure the persistence of the features we value (including uses, processes/services and biodiversity), we need to identify what they are, and then determine how much of what is required in order to maintain those valued features in perpetuity. Over and above these moral obligations, many countries have commitments as signatories to international treaties, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These include a commitment to protect at least 10 % of all marine systems (including beaches). While fixed percentage targets like these are easily applied, work well in terms of gaining political buy-in, and are effective especially at the beginning of a process to establish a representative reserve network, they have been criticised by academics for lacking a science basis. These experts advocate for more defensible alternatives, such as using species-area curves or population-viability models to set targets. As a community of beach experts, we have never engaged formally in a discussion of this nature for sandy shores, nor have we considered "how much is enough" of the features or processes we value to protect them in perpetuity. In this workshop we will explore what conservation/management targets are, discuss the principles and approaches to setting targets, and we will detail what needs to be taken into account when setting targets for beaches. Traditionally, targets are set specifically for biodiversity features (habitats, species, and ecological processes), but beaches are unique systems in that they provide many functions and services that we depend on; some are diversity related, but others (like recreation and tourism) are not, so novel thinking is needed. On the basis of the list of valued features we will identify in Workshop 2, we will debate specific targets that might be useful in conservation and management scenarios. We will also explore how these targets can be achieved simultaneously using systematic spatial planning techniques