Abstract
AbstractThe UN's globally adopted Convention on Biological Diversity coverage target for marine protected areas (MPAs) is ≥10% by 2020. In 2014, the World Parks Congress recommended increasing this to ≥30%. We reviewed 144 studies to assess whether the UN target is adequate to achieve, maximize, or optimize six environmental and/or socioeconomic objectives. Results consistently indicate that protecting several tens‐of‐percent of the sea is required to meet goals (average 37%, median 35%, modal group 21–30%), greatly exceeding the 2.18% currently protected and the 10% target. The objectives we examined were met in 3% of studies with ≤10% MPA coverage, 44% with ≤30% coverage, and 81% with more than half the sea protected. The UN's 10% target appears insufficient to protect biodiversity, preserve ecosystem services, and achieve socioeconomic priorities. As MPA coverages generated from theoretical studies inherently depend on scenario(s) considered, our findings do not represent explicit recommendations but rather provide perspective on policy goals.
Highlights
Global concern regarding environmental degradation and anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems has led to urgent calls to increase the global coverage of marine protected areas (MPAs), the aim being to preserve and recover what remains of ecosystems, and prevent further declines
Considerable variability in required MPA coverage among studies was found mean and median results were highly consistent across a diverse range of objectives, converging between 30% and 40% (Figure 1 and Table S3)
We found no significant difference in required MPA coverage between studies undertaken with specific regard to either tropical or temperate ecosystems (Mann-Whitney U = 726, Z = 0.48, N1 = 47, N2 = 33, 1 df P = 0.63)
Summary
Global concern regarding environmental degradation and anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems has led to urgent calls to increase the global coverage of marine protected areas (MPAs), the aim being to preserve and recover what remains of ecosystems, and prevent further declines. MPAs are one of the principal tools advocated to preserve and maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to mitigate negative effects of anthropogenic activities (e.g., Lubchenco et al 2003; Angulo-Valdes & Hatcher 2010; Halpern et al 2010; Roberts 2012) They are areas where human activities have been restricted to varying degrees with the aim of protecting living and nonliving resources and, while most commonly established for conservation purposes, they are recognized as a tool for commercial fish stock management and recovery (FAO 2011; Vandeperre et al 2011; Rice et al 2012; Roberts & Hawkins 2012). Given the recent adoption by the UN of a Sustainable Development Goal for the oceans, with the 10% MPA goal embedded within it
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