March 2011: A recent UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, titled “Governing Marine Protected Areas: Getting the Balance Right,” highlights the growing recognition in governance debates of the need to move beyond ideological arguments as to which approach is “best” or “right,” and to instead develop governance models, frameworks and approaches that combine the role of states, markets and people.

The report discusses forms of Protected Area governance and the role of top-down and bottom-up governance, as well as of market incentives, such as attaching an economic value to biodiversity and property rights to environmental resources. It also explores, through a series of case studies, the role of collaborative management, recognized as a way forward for marine protected areas (MPAs) management.

The report concludes that: economic incentives can contribute to MPA governance, along with legal, knowledge, interpretative and participative incentives; legal incentives are critical in supporting economic, knowledge, participative and interpretative incentives; having dedicated and respected individuals and organisations that can provide vision and leadership for an MPA is important in developing and sustaining good MPA governance; and NGOs can serve an important role in developing and implementing various incentives for the effective governance of MPAs, but they are not a substitute for the leadership role of the state. [Publication: Governing Marine Protected Areas: Getting the Balance Right]