Title: Marine protected areas: from conservation to sustainable development

Authors: Jean-Francois Noel, Jean-Yves Weigel

Addresses: C3ED, Universite de Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, 47 Boulevard Vauban, 78047 Guyancourt Cedex, France. ' C3ED, Universite de Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, 47 Boulevard Vauban, 78047 Guyancourt Cedex, France

Abstract: After a period during which MPAs were instrumentalised as a palliative against the inadequacy of a fisheries management conventional approach, the multi-use character of these areas prevailed, conflicts were pacified by instilling a participative process and a plurality of goals is now fully recognised. Thus MPAs are becoming both a tool and a preferred context for sustainable development in its ecological, economic and social dimensions and applied through a participatory approach that entitles local communities to both create and manage this type of area. This article will discuss the full range of these changes and how MPAs| goals have evolved with time, from a priority granted to conservation to the recognition of a plurality of goals. This article will then examine to what extent the results obtained by MPAs working toward each one of these goals make them valuable examples of areas where the requirements of sustainable development are met.

Keywords: conservation; fisheries; marine protected areas; sustainable development; tourism; sustainability; participation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2007.017645

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2007 Vol.10 No.3, pp.233 - 250

Published online: 25 Mar 2008 *

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