standing how effective community-based resource management can scale-up and diffuse to more communities is at the forefront of conservation research. In the Global South (Africa, Latin America and developing Asia), communit ymanaged marine protected areas may be known as locally managed marine areas (LMMA). LMMAs are a type of spatial management developed from the principle that local communities can be more effective than central governments at managing marine resources. Whether this type of traditional spatial management meets international policies on biodiversity (like the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi target) remains an ongoing conversation. In most cases, a nation’s LMMAs do not meet the formal definition of a protected area. Understanding how community-based conservation can meet these formal definitions – and contribute to international policy targets of 10% protection – is a key consideration for future marine protected areas. For example, although many LMMAs prioritise livelihoods and food security, they also offer opportunities to achieve biodiversity conser vation while recognising traditional practices. Future marine protected areas can gain by learning from communit y-based management and customar y practices, as well as the biodiversit y benefits they provide.
Photo by Thomas Peschak
N forests, the villagers created a lasso around the reef. Over several hours, we swam and kicked and beat the water with our arms to scare the fish into the centre of the lasso and, eventually, a gill net. In the span of one afternoon we caught more than 1,000 fish – enough to feed ever y family in the village and the neighbouring village. Closing the tabu the following day would enable the fish populations to recover until the next har vest. Traditional marine closures, such as tabus, that manage fishes like a crop and are periodically harvested can be sustainable. Marine protected areas can support these practices by ensuring that people have exclusive rights to managing their local biodiversity and fisheries, and provide tools for communities to monitor and track the status of their resources. Rights, access and monitoring are key features of the scientific theory linked to shared resources like fisheries. Applying this theory to real-world examples and under-
ew technologies are an emerging frontier for marine protected areas. With open technologies, global online access and the era of big data, fishing activities that were previously ‘somewhere over the horizon’ can now be viewed online and in real time. The recently launched Global Fishing Watch (www.globalfishingwatch.org), for example, uses a global feed of vessel locations from satellite information to reveal the movements of fishing boats and their activities over time. By pairing this information with the locations of marine protected areas, citizens and decision-makers can identify illegal fishing and evaluate the effectiveness of management decisions. Conservation drones are another example of technological ‘eyes in the sky’ to detect illegal fishing activities for a fraction of the cost of traditional patrol boats. Scientists are also working together with larger datasets than ever before to improve our understanding of marine protected areas. For example, a recent study of 17,348 marine species identified ‘protection gaps’ for 245 of them that are not in any marine protected areas. Similar studies are bringing together global collaborative datasets on reef fishes, corals and governance, and helping us to understand the effectiveness of marine protected areas. This information can guide the strategic implementation of
new marine protected areas. Technology, big data and collaborative partnerships between scientists, governments and stakeholders offer hope for strategic and targeted investment in marine protected areas that produce real, positive effects. Collaborative partnerships like Global FinPrint (www. globalfinprint.org) and the Global Sharks and Rays Initiative leverage numerous NGOs, donors and international organisations to create large and comprehensive impacts. These initiatives recognise that measuring the number of square kilometres of marine protected area is not enough for conser vation; we must evaluate the actual on-the-ground impact of marine protected areas and other conser vation strategies if we are going to restore marine biodiversity and maintain it into the future. In the coming decades, the planet will continue to experience rapid social, economic, technological and environmental change. Marine protected areas will play an important role in how we conser ve and sustainably manage our oceans. We must make smarter and more strategic decisions about marine resources and the livelihoods, cultures and food security they support. We can anticipate the impacts of climate change and integrate climate refuges into planning in order to buy time for marine biodiversity and human societies to adapt and respond to ongoing change. We can incorporate the practices of traditional fisheries and learn from cultures that have been managing their natural resources for thousands of years. Science and technology can help us find this balance by improving our understanding of the role that customar y practices play in marine management and by finding new innovations for people and nature in an era of big data. Back in Madagascar, the first wave of community-managed marine protected areas provides hope for a hotspot of biodiversity in the Western Indian Ocean. Below the surface, it is heartening for our team sur veying the new marine protected areas to see that healthy coral reefs can sur vive and recover from unprecedented climate events and can continue to support biodiversity and local livelihoods. These reefs have been protected by the people who depend on them and by the swirling ocean currents of the Mozambique Channel. In an uncertain and rapidly changing future, there are many smart and strategic actions that can protect our oceans. But we must continue to search for innovations and work together to achieve impact. Overall, the future of marine protected areas is to adapt to our rapidly changing world in order to give marine life the best chance of sur vival and resilience in the coming decades. 47