Marine Protected Areas Agencies
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Marine Protected Areas Agencies A practical Guide Second Edition 2015 Page 2 Preface The idea of establishing a partnership of marine protected area agencies came up during the second International Marine Protected Area Congress in Washington, suggested by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. It was the occasion to get to know eachother better, and eventually to create the opportunity of joining forces to increase our influence on the global scene. It took the practical shape of a light and informal forum, successfully initiated by the NOAA which convened the first summit of the Marine Protected Area Agencies Partnership in San Francisco in 2012. Following from the IMPAC 3 Congress that France had the chance to host, the second summit of the partnership took place in Bonifacio, Corsica. On this occasion the french agency took up the torch from the NOAA with the task of making the partnership live until the next step in Australia. Rapidly, the project of a document showing and sharing our experiences appeared to be the perfect tool to strenghten our links and get the members to know eachother better. But above all, it represents a response to an important objective of the partnership: communicating towards any country or institution willing to establish or reinforce an MPA networks. With this aim in mind, the french agency assumed the role of coordination of a practical guide project, a task entrusted to Maxence Chatelet, that I want to thank for carrying it out. The 6th IUCN’s World Park Congress is the most important international summit dedicated to protected areas. Parks of Australia will take benefit from this great event to host the third international summit of our partnership and to give the opportunity of presenting the first version of the practical guide. Nevertheless, this is just a beginning. The guide is meant to become a living document, completed and enriched years after years by the new achievments of the agencies, and the involvment of new contributors. We already are working on the creation of an online platfrom to make this practical guide grow, and give it the chance to become the reference source about the marine protected areas agencies. Olivier Laroussinie , Director, French Marine Protected Areas Agency Page 3 AContents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Part I. Guidelines from the Agencies ...................................................................................................................................... 9 I. Making the Decision: establishing MPAs and MPA networks ...................................................................... 10 1. Science Information and Tools to support the decision-making .......................................................................... 10 2. Setting Conservation Goals ................................................................................................................................... 11 3. Building Public and Political Support .................................................................................................................... 12 II. Governance and Financing .................................................................................................................................. 13 4. Setting up Sustainable Financing Mechanisms ..................................................................................................... 13 5. MPAs within the wider seascape .......................................................................................................................... 14 6. Implementing the MPA governance ..................................................................................................................... 15 7. Cooperating Internationally for Coherent Networks ............................................................................................ 15 III. Managing MPAs ........................................................................................................................................................ 16 8. Developing and Implementing Management Plans ............................................................................................. 16 9. Monitoring, assessment and evaluation for an adaptive management ............................................................... 17 10. Training and Professionalizing Staff .................................................................................................................. 17 Part II. MPAs’ Agencies Profile .............................................................................................................................................. 19 Timeline ............................................................................................................................................................................ 20 Australia- Parks Australia .................................................................................................................................................. 22 Canada- Parks Canada ...................................................................................................................................................... 24 Chile’s MPA network......................................................................................................................................................... 26 France – French Marine Protected Areas Agency ............................................................................................................ 28 Italy – Italian Parks and Natural Reserves Federation ...................................................................................................... 30 Korea- Korea Environment Management Corporation .................................................................................................... 32 Mexico- National Commission for Protected Areas (CONANP) ........................................................................................ 34 New Zealand – Department of Conservation ................................................................................................................... 36 Saudi Arabia – Saudi Wildlife Authority ............................................................................................................................ 38 United Kingdom – Natural England .................................................................................................................................. 40 United States – Marine Protected Areas in the US........................................................................................................... 42 Part III. MPAs Agencies in Action: an experiences review .................................................................................................... 45 Contents .......................................................................................................................................................................... 47 Page 4 Introduction The Marine Protected Area Agencies Partnership Background The MPA Agency partnership is an informal forum of senior officials of government agencies from around the globe, in charge of the designation, management, and operation of marine protected areas in their respective nations. It aims, for the benefit of its members, at: Exchanging technical information, experiences, and expertise; Coordinating and cooperating on joint solution-based projects designed to build and enhance the ability of each agency to meet its MPA mandates, and make a collective contribution to marine conservation on a global scale; Leveraging the identity of the agencies as a cohesive group to raise awareness of MPAs on a global scale; Identifying opportunities to expand the scope and leadership role of this collective group to influence and create innovative approaches and results-based tools to help protect marine resources now and into the future The first summit was held in San Francisco in 2012 at the kind invitation of NOAA –Office of National Marine sanctuaries, and set up the basis of the partnership. The second summit in Bonifacio in 2013 consolidated the links established and enlarged the group of personalities. The meeting was an opportunity to hear about national situations and exchange with observers from CDB secretariat and IUCN. It happened next to the 3rd International Marine Protected Areas Congress and was then an opportunity to share the conclusions of IMPAC3 with respect to the activities of MPA agencies. It looked at contributions to the World Park Congress in 2014 and to the possible involvement of the partnership members toward IMPAC 4 (2017). It is in this context that the project of a practical guide emerged. The guide embodies a concrete action towards the announced objectives. Along its production, the partnership seizes the opportunity to get a perennial tool to foster its internal dynamic, and a potential reference document for its communication and influence strategy. Working session of the partnership, Bonifacio, 2013. Page 5 Progressing towards the international goals Indeed, the ambition of this practical guide is to support the states in their national policies for MPAs, especially in a context of growing international commitments regarding the marine environment protection, a matter on the United Nations’ agenda since 19821. In 1992 the Agenda 21 was approved in consensus