Gazing at the Crystal Ball: Predicting the Future of Marine Protected Areas Through Voluntary Commitments

Emily S Nocito,Aaron L Strong,Cassandra M Brooks

doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00835

Emily S Nocito, Aaron L Strong + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00835

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Abstract

2015 saw a new era within the United Nations: the era of the Sustainable Development Goals. Built off the previous Millennium Development Goals, this new set of goals was expanded to 17 target areas. Fast forward to June 2017, at the United Nation’s Headquarters in New York City, a high-level conference surrounding Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Under Water convened. One aspect of goal 14 calls for 10% of the ocean conserved by the year 2020, through sub-target 14.5. That 10% fulfillment is often thought of in terms of marine protected areas (MPAs). While many objectives were laid out for this conference, one of the most prominent objectives was to build on existing partnerships and foster new collaborations. One way to achieve this target was through the creation of the voluntary commitment program. This “Call for Action” came from the heads of state and government, as well as high-level representatives from organizations and stakeholder groups. Under this “Call for Action”, twenty-two actions related to goal 14 were listed for stakeholders to partake in, including an appeal to create voluntary commitments surrounding the oceans. As of September 2017, 1,395 voluntary commitments were registered through the voluntary commitment portal process, spanning across organizations and disciplines. Here, we analyze these commitments, specifically those related to the fifth sub-target of SDG 14. Commitments were further refined through the focus on those under 14.5 that focused on different forms of resilience, resulting in 133 separate codes over 12 forms of resilience. Through analyzing commitments, we map out future plans and reveal different forms of marine protected areas. This research shows collaboration and co-production of knowledge linking across the SDGs. This work can be seen as a stepping-stone to the fulfillment of 10% conservation by 2020.

Highlights

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are regions of the ocean where specific human activities are limited or prohibited, and have been increasingly promoted by policy-makers, scientists, and conservationists as a tool for mitigating ocean threats, conserving biodiversity, managing fisheries, and enhancing resilience to climate change (Lester et al, 2009; Gaines et al, 2010; The Future of Global marine protected areas (MPAs)Lubchenco and Grorud-Colvert, 2015; Roberts et al, 2017)
Of the 3,795 subtarget commitments made as of September 2017, only 10% (389 subtarget commitments) commitments pertained to sustainable development goals (SDGs) 14.5 (Figure 1)
SDG 14.6 aims to decrease the number of fisheries subsidies and accounted for 2% (95 subtarget commitments) of the subtarget commitments

Summary

Introduction

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are regions of the ocean where specific human activities are limited or prohibited, and have been increasingly promoted by policy-makers, scientists, and conservationists as a tool for mitigating ocean threats, conserving biodiversity, managing fisheries, and enhancing resilience to climate change (Lester et al, 2009; Gaines et al, 2010; The Future of Global MPAsLubchenco and Grorud-Colvert, 2015; Roberts et al, 2017). The political calls for increased use of MPAs arise from numerous studies that demonstrate that MPAs – especially notake MPAs ( known as marine reserves) – provide significant positive ecosystem benefits (Baskett and Barnett, 2015) These benefits include increases in biomass, density, size, and diversity of life in the region (Lester et al, 2009; Caselle et al, 2015). Benefits derived from MPAs include benefits to fisheries, including by facilitating the recovery of depleted fisheries and by providing spillover effects (Gaines et al, 2010; Halpern et al, 2010) Because they maintain all trophic levels of the ecosystem and increase both species and genetic diversity, MPAs can enhance resilience to ecosystem changes, including those brought about by climate change (Olds et al, 2014; Roberts et al, 2017)

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