Michael Mascia

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I am the Senior Director for Social Science at Conservation International, where I lead CI’s social science research, technical assistance, and capacity-building efforts. I also serve as President of the Board for the Society for Conservation Biology -- the first social scientist to hold this position. My research focuses on governance and biodiversity conservation, particularly the emergence, evolution, and impacts of conservation interventions. I am a former AAAS Fellow and NSF grant recipient, with research and policy experience in Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, Southeast Asia, and the United States. I have published widely on the social dimensions of biodiversity conservation and provided technical support to numerous government agencies, conservation organizations, and donors. I previously served as founding co-Editor in Chief of the scientific journal Conservation Letters, founding President of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Social Science Working Group (SCB SSWG), and as Social Science Representative to the SCB Board of Governors. In 2011, I received the SCB Early Career Award for my work to advance conservation social science and its application to conservation policy. I hold a Ph.D. in Environmental Politics and Policy from Duke University and a bachelor's degree in Biology and Government from Bowdoin College.Innovation and collaboration are hallmarks of my research. Current projects examine the links between coral reef conservation and local livelihoods in Indonesia (MPAmystery.org)

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Does the Selective Erasure of Protected Areas Raise Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?

Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Nov 18, 2022

Cost-effective climate mitigation via conservation incentives targeting poverty: Bolsa Verde's impact in Brazilian Amazonia settlements

Conservation incentives have been implemented globally to support forests and the ecosystem servi... more Conservation incentives have been implemented globally to support forests and the ecosystem services they provide (e.g., greenhouse-gas sequestration). Paying forest managers can increase local acceptance of conservation, while also targeting local poverty. Evidence shows that the impacts of incentives vary across contexts and scheme designs, from zero to high. We assess whether deforestation is avoided in sites where households enrolled in Bolsa Verde, a Brazilian governmental conservation program implemented between 2011 and 2018. For enrolled settlements in Amazonia, we estimate that Bolsa Verde reduced deforestation by a total of ~80’000 ha, implying 35 megatons fewer CO2 emissions over the program’s duration and with no evidence of a rebound in forest loss after the program. We find no evidence of avoided deforestation in other program sites – either settlements outside Amazonia or protected areas inside or outside Amazonia. Still, the monetized value of the climate-mitigation ...

Sustainable-use marine protected areas to improve human nutrition

Coral reef fisheries are a vital source of nutrients for thousands of nutritionally vulnerable co... more Coral reef fisheries are a vital source of nutrients for thousands of nutritionally vulnerable coastal communities around the world. Here, we evaluated the potential effects of expanding sustainable-use marine protected areas (MPAs) to improve the nutrition of coastal communities. Using information from underwater visual surveys from 2,518 sites located in 53 countries, we developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the average effect of existing sustainable-use MPAs reef fish biomass and explored how that may alter fish catch, and the nutrients supplied to local communities. We then estimated the potential nutritional benefits of expanding sustainable-use MPAs to all non-MPA coral reefs globally. We found that existing sustainable use MPAs have on average 15% more biomass than open access reefs. Translating this into catch, we estimated that expanding sustainable-use MPAs could increase catch potential by 0-20%, which could prevent 0.53-1.95 million cases of inadequate micr...

Michael Mascia

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