Projects per year
Abstract
Although transboundary conservation areas (TCAs) are critical tools for protecting ecosystems and ecological processes that transcend national jurisdictions, they are challenging to create due to the differences in governance contexts and capacity and power dynamics among countries. Marine TCAs are also more difficult to enforce relative to terrestrial TCAs because most nations still treat oceans as open access. Current guidelines for TCA development and implementation also focus mostly on terrestrial TCAs, which are not practical for marine TCAs. Hence, we reviewed the challenges associated with the design and management of marine TCAs and devised analytical and practical approaches to support the application of spatial planning frameworks and adaptive governance mechanisms. We used the lessons from the review to examine the decisions made for the proposed marine TCA in the Kenya–Tanzania border region and created options and considerations to promote effective design and management processes. We found the obstacles to marine TCAs in general are related to issues of fit, particularly differences in environmental research capacity, socioeconomic contexts, and internal institutional arrangements. These included differences in knowledge and capacity for marine ecological research and conservation; ability to adjust and update data; differences in values, interests, and resource uses; conservation costs; jurisdictional differences; engagement of multiple levels of organization; and differences in legal bases and policy development processes. Understanding and reconciling these challenges during the TCA development process can help enhance meaningful discussions in the design of the TCA and cultivate the enabling conditions for collaborative governance across countries and within different levels of organization from national to local actors.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Conservation Biology |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 6 Aug 2024 |
Keywords
- cooperación transfronteriza
- diseño y gestión de la conservación transfronteriza
- Kenia
- Kenya
- marine transboundary conservation area
- Océano Índico occidental
- Tanzania
- transboundary conservation design and management
- transboundary cooperation
- Western Indian Ocean
- área marina de conservación transfronteriza
Projects
- 1 Finished
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WIO-SP: Scaling-up Decision Support for Coastal and Marine Management in the Western Indian Ocean
1/05/19 → 30/04/22
Project: Other
Impacts
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Enhancing coastal and marine management through research, stakeholder engagement, and bridging the gap between science and policy
Maina Mbui (Participant), Vera Horigue (Participant), Luisa Fontoura (Participant), Stephanie D'agata (Participant) & Victoria Graham (Participant)
Impact: Environment impacts, Economy impacts, Science impacts, Policy impacts