Chapter 7 - The use of natural capital in the choice, management and evaluation of MPAs

Abstract

Natural capital can provide a means to inform MPA management decisions and maritime policy. By establishing a common framework, it allows management interventions and the mitigation of impacts to be prioritised according to their return on investment. It is proposed that the choice of location and management of MPAs should ensure that not only is natural capital not eroded, but it is increased to provide a healthy, productive environment. Like economic investments, society needs to live off the interest or revenue, not erode the asset. The determination of the decline in natural capital can be used to estimate the degradation in natural systems within MPAs and, more importantly from a management perspective, it can indicate which ecosystem services require restoration. It is proposed that the marine environmental management of activities such as fishing, angling, transport, recreation, power generation and mineral extraction should ensure that not only is natural capital not eroded, but it is always increased in order to provide a healthy productive environment for further activities and to safeguard the very environment on which those activities are dependent. Licencing of activities, particularly but not exclusively, in MPAs could be formulated to ensure this. Funding mechanisms that are linked to natural capital within MPAs are needed for their management and protection. MPAs serve as society's ‘bank’ of natural capital, but must not be the only repository.