Capacity for (Co)Management of Marine Protected Areas in the Caribbean

Great strides have been made in identifying and measuring the conditions that favor the success of marine protected areas (MPAs). We can also evaluate the management effectiveness of MPAs. More attention is being paid to sustainable financing, and MPA networks help us to scale-up their benefits. Yet...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Coastal management 2012-05, Vol.40 (3), p.268-278
Main Authors: McConney, Patrick, Pena, Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assessments
Assets
Benefits
Capacity
Caribbean
Caribbean region
Central America/Caribbean
Coastal zone management
Collection
Culture
Dimensions
Effectiveness
Effectiveness studies
Financial support
Financing
Governance
Government and politics
Human
Islands
Management
Marine
Marine conservation
Marine parks
Marine parks and reserves
Marine protected areas
Maritime law
Networks
Organizational aspects
Organizational change
Organizational culture
Protected areas
Qualitative analysis
Qualitative research
Skills
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic status
Success
Success factors
Sustainable development
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Great strides have been made in identifying and measuring the conditions that favor the success of marine protected areas (MPAs). We can also evaluate the management effectiveness of MPAs. More attention is being paid to sustainable financing, and MPA networks help us to scale-up their benefits. Yet, the capacity to manage or co-manage MPAs often remains limited, especially in small island developing states, even after numerous capacity assessment and development initiatives. Capacity is more than a collection of human technical skills supplemented by physical and financial assets. It is a complex multi-dimensional concept that also includes less easily measurable overarching components such as worldview, organizational culture, and propensity for networking that tend to shape the more mechanistic elements of capacity. We offer a largely qualitative analysis of practical observations on how capacity and management effectiveness (in terms of biophysical, socioeconomic, and governance aspects) have combined to influence success and lack of success in a selection of small Caribbean MPAs. Lessons learned from this analysis contribute to our understanding of the role that human dimensions play in MPA success.
ISSN:0892-0753
1521-0421
DOI:10.1080/08920753.2012.677632