Conservation “identity” and marine protected areas management: A Mediterranean case study

Abstract

Protection of natural environments sought through management plans varies greatly between countries; characterizing these differences and what motivates them can inform future regional and international conservation efforts. This research builds on previous work addressing the spatial distribution of marine protected areas in the Mediterranean Sea. Particularly, it examines the relationship between a “protection level” (PL) score and a set of variables pertaining to each country's conservation efforts, economic conditions and human impact along the coast using regression analysis. Four sets of models demonstrated country characteristics that correlate with higher protection levels within marine protected areas (MPAs). Certain contextual factors – economic dependence on the marine environment, efforts at terrestrial conservation and greater human impact – were found to be significantly associated with higher PLs among the northern littoral countries of the Mediterranean. Such findings can inform policy makers about where efforts and investments should be directed for marine conservation.

Introduction

The Mediterranean Sea supports many endangered, endemic species, and it is an important hotspot for targeted conservation (Danovaro et al., 2010, Mouillot et al., 2011). It is an enclosed sea with a slow flush and exchange rate, both of which exacerbate its pollution problems. Further, environmental awareness among the sea's surrounding populations is low, leading to much unregulated development and overexploitation along its coasts (Laubier, 2005). As such, the management of activities within the sea is crucial, highlighting the need for an enhanced set of MPAs with high levels of protection, arranged as a network (Portman et al. 2013). Therefore analyzing the context within which marine protected areas (MPAs) are established and designed is important for understanding the potential for marine conservation in this area of the world (Coll et al., 2011, Levin et al., 2013).

Our research aims to identify conditions under which countries are amenable to conservation actions. Similar past efforts have examined spatial location in relation to management regimes of terrestrial protected areas (e.g., Eigenbrod et al., 2010, Seiferling et al., 2012) and others have examined geographic location and spatial attributes of MPAs (e.g., Guarderas et al., 2008, Weeks et al., 2010a). Most have looked at geographic location and spatial characteristics (such as size) in relation to the effectiveness of management regimes in terms of ecological conditions (e.g., Coll et al., 2011, Sala et al., 2012). Such studies shed light on the physical context within which conservation actions occur. Few studies have looked at characteristics of management regimes in relation to the socio-economic context within which they are developed, even though it is clear that such studies are needed (McDonald and Boucher, 2011, Sala et al., 2012)

To improve understanding of countries’ decision making in regards to MPA management regimes, we reviewed information on MPAs of the Mediterranean Sea using several parameters such as their geographic distribution and physical characteristics together with parameters based on MPA management plans. Previous studies have surveyed MPAs using geographic distribution and physical characteristics (e.g., Coll et al., 2011, Guarderas et al., 2008, Sala et al., 2012) and some even consider socio-economic parameters (e.g., Abdulla et al. 2008, Weeks et al. 2010a). However, these past studies have not considered characteristics of management plans. For example, – Levin et al. (2013), examined the potential of countries to collaborate across national borders for improved marine conservation in the Mediterranean Sea. This study used size of MPAs as a proxy for marine conservation action without considering varied regulation within the MPAs.

Where and how to establish an MPA, i.e., according to what parameters, should be a question of local goals and objectives (Eigenbrod et al., 2010, Klein et al., 2008) but will also undoubtedly reflect country and regional contexts and priorities (Seiferling et al., 2012, Weeks et al., 2010b). Our research seeks to characterize MPAs in the Mediterranean by how countries interact with the marine environment. We hypothesize that those countries with greater protection levels within their MPAs will be those with a greater focus on the marine environment for conservation and those exhibiting greater dependence on the maritime economy. If similar to terrestrial PAs, marine PAs will likely be in areas relatively excluded from human activity (Seiferling et al. 2012). Although this study falls short of in-depth analysis of the specific management regimes within the protected areas, by using an ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis we attempt to model levels of protection within MPAs. Levels of protection are modeled as a function of: (a) economic conditions, (b) distribution of human activities (human impacts) and (c) what we refer to as conservation “identity”.