Elsevier

Marine Policy

Volume 41, September 2013, Pages 5-13
Marine Policy

Governing marine protected areas: Social–ecological resilience through institutional diversity

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2012.12.026Get rights and content

Abstract

Marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are facing increasing driving forces, which represent a major and increasing challenge for MPA governance. The Marine Protected Area Governance (MPAG) project examined a range of different incentives – economic, interpretative, knowledge, legal and participative – employed to address the driving forces and promote effectiveness in 20 case studies across the globe. This paper argues that, regardless of the MPA governance approach adopted (i.e., government-led, decentralised, private or community-led), resilience in MPA governance systems derives from employing a diversity of inter-connected incentives. The significance of institutional diversity to governance systems parallels that of species diversity to ecosystems, conferring resilience to the overall socio–ecological system. The paper concludes that, in the face of strong driving forces, rather than relying on particular types of incentives and institutions, it is important to recognise that the key to resilience is diversity, both of species in ecosystems and of institutions in governance systems.

Highlights

► Five different categories of MPA governance approach are identified. ► Different types of incentives are combined in governing MPAs in different contexts. ► Interactions between the incentives lead to a hypothesised 'web of incentives'. ► Legal incentives represent strong links in such a 'web of incentives'. ► Diversity of inter-connected incentives is key to resilience in MPA governance systems.

Section snippets

Marine conservation in the face of strong driving forces

It is widely acknowledged that protected areas are being increasingly influenced by the global forces of economic development and socio–political change [1], [2]. Such ‘driving forces’ have also been discussed in terms of ‘the root causes of biodiversity loss’ [3]. The MPAG case studies that are the focus of this Special Issue illustrate that, with specific regards to MPAs, such driving forces include:

  • The increasing reach of global fish markets for a growing and increasingly affluent human

Governance categories

Five broad approaches to MPA governance can be recognised in the 20 case studies examined to date. This categorisation is based on the defining characteristics and attributes of MPA governance, particularly the allocation of authority and responsibilities between different parties and/or actors involved in governing MPAs, and the key incentives used to steer related processes. Although the number of case studies within each category is small, this categorisation enables contextualized

Which incentives were most frequently cited as used and needed?

Overall, the results from this relatively small pool of preliminary case studies show that a wide range of incentives are currently being used to govern the MPAs. Only one incentive was not cited as being used or needed amongst this preliminary sample of case studies – payments for the flow of ecosystem services provided by the MPA. This suggests that while there is a growing emphasis in literature on the critical need to maintain/restore the flow of marine ecosystem services [30], it would

Improving MPA governance: resilience through diversity

In addition to the relative contribution of individual incentives in supporting MPA governance, the analysis also reveals the inter-connections between different incentives (see Supplementary material). The 20 MPAs examined exhibited strong and weak interconnections in their webs of incentives (Fig. 2). An example of a strong interconnection would be the need for effective enforcement of conservation regulations to promote sustainable resource use, and ensuring that the economic benefits of the

Cross-cutting issues and policy implications

In the analyses of the 20 case studies examined to date, a number of cross-cutting issues were identified, which have a significant influence on MPA effectiveness, regardless of the context and governance approach applied. Addressing such issues plays an important role in improving MPA governance in the case studies.

The role of the state is critical in enabling and supporting the implementation of various incentives in all MPA governance categories. Even in MPAs in categories II, III and IV

Conclusion

Overall, the inter-disciplinary and realist institutional analyses presented in this paper indicate that MPA governance systems and the ecosystems they are intended to conserve are linked, in that resilience in governance systems tends to prevent or mitigate the perturbations caused by driving forces, leading to resilient ecological systems. The analyses also indicate that, regardless of the governance approach adopted, resilience in MPA governance systems derives from employing a diversity of

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