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Worldwide, coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, and other highly diverse tropical marine ecosystems are under sharp decline. Anthropogenic impacts are degrading water quality, habitat configuration and the ecological structure of entire coastal systems. Consequently, most coastal marine fisheries are under an increasing threat of collapse. This global crisis poses an unprecedented challenge not only to marine biodiversity con-servation, but also to the livelihood of millions of people who depend on healthy coastal ecosystems, especially in developing countries. Globally, almost 50 percent of fisheries are at maximum capacity, while more than 25 percent have been pushed beyond sustainable limits. Industrial fishing practices have depressed populations of large predatory fish to about 10 percent of pre-industrial levels throughout the global ocean. Recent assessments show that 20 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been effectively destroyed, a further 24 percent are under imminent risk of collapse, and another 26 percent are under long- term threat from human-caused pressures.Marine managed areas (MMAs) of various types are a form of resource management that regulates human activities in particular locations (area-based management strat-egy). There are many types and management regimes of MMAs, from multiple-use and community-managed areas to no-take reserves, but objectives generally converge at soci-oeconomic (e.g., fisheries, tourism) and biodiversity conservation benefits. Due to their immense potential and cost-effectiveness, MMAs are being proposed as central coastal and marine management tools, and there has been increasing interest – particularly among international, non-governmental and multilateral development organizations – in evaluating and developing tools to increase MMAs’ effectiveness (Orbach and Karrer, 2010). The current challenge, however, is to ensure that these commitments are trans-formed into meaningful actions.Governance systems – those arrangements by which communities of people at dif-ferent scales make common rules of behavior – occur in many different forms across nations and cultures (Figure 27.1). There is also a significant difference between gov-ernance structures on land and in the sea. On land, most property and many resources are subject to private ownership, as private property. In the sea, it is generally true that the water, seabed, and resources are common pool, or common property. That is, those environments and resources are held in trust by governments and managed for the |
