Marine Protected Areas: Ensuring Effective Conservation while Pursuing Global Targets

The topic of marine protected areas (mpas) is complex and multi-faceted. This essay attempts to summarize contemporary issues in the field of marine conservation and draws on recent Canadian experience. To set the stage, here are some current global facts and figures related to mpas from ProtectedPlanet. net, managed by the United Nations Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, as of November 2017: – Over 23 million km2 (6.35 percent) of the ocean is covered by over 15,000 mpas, a ten-fold increase since 2000 when the area covered by mpas was approximately 0.7 percent or 2 million km2. – mpa coverage has increased by approximately 14 million km2 since 2010, driven in a large part by the expansion of existing sites, and the creation of very large new sites (100,000 km2 and larger). – The ten largest mpas contribute over 50 percent of the area covered by marine protected areas, and the 20 largest mpas contribute 70 percent of the total. This is in stark contrast to the median size of mpas globally at less than 5 km2. – The recent accelerated designation of mpas globally is focused on exclusive economic zones (eezs at 39 percent of the global ocean), with only 0.25 percent of the high seas currently covered by mpas. It is well understood that mpas are not a panacea for the many problems facing our oceans and are limited in what they can achieve. There are very real and serious threats that mpas alone cannot solve such as ocean acidification, climate change, and pollution and plastics. What mpas can do, though, is allow ocean space to ‘rest’. Given a chance to recover either unencumbered by human interference through no-take mpas, or with limited human interference through sustainable use mpas, these areas can be left to flourish and better support overall ecosystem resilience. Within existing mpas, active management, monitoring, and reporting are critical elements for success. Proper management of mpas once they are designated and ensuring that they do not become ‘paper parks’ are also critical. Other key factors for mpa effectiveness are funding, compliance, and