Presentation
This Issue Brief provides an initial methodological approach for considering the management costs of future high seas marine protected areas (HSMPAs), focusing on factors that may influence–either increase or decrease–their amount and/or their distribution. Offering preliminary insights that forthcoming publications will refine and expand upon, it illustrates that the management costs of future HSMPAs will be significantly influenced by the institutional choices States will make and highlights options for managing, reducing and/or sharing budget items.
Key Messages
- The costs associated with MPA management can generally be divided into four main categories: administration and oversight; monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS); scientific activities; and education and outreach.
- Various factors can influence the management costs of future HSMPAs. For each category, different scenarios exist, each with distinct financial implications.
- There are opportunities to manage, reduce and share costs, particularly for administration and oversight, as well as MCS, which are usually the most significant budget items.
- The costs will also depend on the choices made by States regarding the governance model (i.e. cooperative, centralized or decentralized governance), conservation objectives and zoning of future HSMPAs–strictly protected MPAs being generally less costly to manage than multi-purpose MPAs.
- States and other stakeholders involved in the preparation of MPAs must anticipate these issues and identify, according to the characteristics of each site, the most desirable budgetary options for optimizing and sharing costs.
