Brazilian large-scale marine protected areas: Other “paper parks”?

Abstract

This article takes the opportunity of the recent establishment of two large and remote marine protected areas (MPAs) in Brazilian jurisdictional waters to discuss the role played by large-scale MPAs and their impacts to achieve international goals. After the launching of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in 2010, especially Target 11, which concerns marine areas, some coastal states have created large-scale MPAs as a way of attaining a numerical target, though not necessarily fulfilling other ecosystem commitments. Brazil is the most recent example of this strategy through the establishment of MPAs that seem primarily concerned with international goals rather than effective biodiversity protection. Since the management of these protected areas will be shared between a technical body (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) and the Navy, and only a small portion of which will have similar status to “no-take” zone, the new MPAs can hardly be identified as being strongly committed to the marine environment protection. The article ends with some suggestions for improving biodiversity conservation in the Brazilian large-scale MPAs.