Marine Protected Areas in the Coral Triangle: Progress, Issues, and Options

Abstract

The six Coral Triangle countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste—each have evolving systems of marine protected areas (MPAs) at the national and local levels. More than 1,900 MPAs covering 200,881 km² (1.6% of the exclusive economic zone for the region) have been established within these countries over the last 40 years under legal mandates that range from village level traditional law to national legal frameworks that mandate the protection of large areas as MPAs. The focus of protection has been primarily on critical marine habitats and ecosystems, with a strong emphasis on maintaining and improving the status of near-shore fisheries, a primary food and economic resource in the region. This article brings together for the first time a consistent set of current data on MPAs for the six countries and reviews progress toward the establishment of MPAs in these countries with regard to (i) coverage of critical habitat (e.g., 17.8% of the coral reef habitat within the region lies within an MPA), (ii) areas under effective management, and (iii) actions needed to improve the implementation of MPAs as a marine conservation and resource management strategy. The contribution of MPAs to the Coral Triangle MPA System as called for in the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security Regional Plan of Action is clarified. Options for scaling up existing MPAs to networks of MPAs that are more ecologically linked and integrated with fisheries management and responsive to changing climate through the Coral Triangle MPA System development are discussed. A key point is the need to improve the effectiveness of existing MPAs, and plan in a manner leading to ecosystem-based management.

Keywords:

• coastal management
• Coral Triangle countries
• marine protected areas
• marine spatial planning

Acknowledgments

The Interim Regional Secretariat of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (www.coraltriangleinitiative.org) is thanked for overall support for generation of data through the cooperation of the six Coral Triangle Countries.

Notes

1. The CTMPAS Framework and Action Plan was endorsed by the CTI-CFF Senior Officials in November 2012 and is in early stages of implementation (CTI-CFF 2013) through the efforts of the CTI-CFF MPA Technical Working Group comprised of members from each country as well as several regional and international partners and scientists.

2. Seascape refers to large management areas defined by ecological and oceanographic affinities. The Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape in southern Philippines, Sabah Malaysia and Celebes Sea, Indonesia is the first in the Coral Triangle.

3. The exact area covered by all 1,600 local government MPAs in the Philippines is not known because polygon data only exists for about 1/3 of them. Thus an average size of 15 ha is used to calculate the total area covered.

4. The differences between area reported by governments and what the CT Atlas has calculated using the most current polygon data are explained by Cros et al. (2014). It is also noted that most of the MPAs without known boundaries are very small MPAs in the Philippines under local government without verified national records.