Formalizing transboundary protected area governance

The Ocean Race is the ultimate ocean challenge– a round-the-world sailing race through some of the most remote waters on earth. The roots of the event’s Science Programme can be traced to 2001 when onboard sensors captured data from surface water. 2015 saw teams deploy drifter buoys for the first time. 

One of the Race’s key aims, besides athletic excellence, is to advance knowledge and collect data on ocean health. This is considered particularly valuable to scientists because teams gather information from areas of the ocean that research vessels seldom access, helping to fill critical knowledge gaps. The 2022-23 race’s focus areas include measuring meteorological data, essential ocean parameters, and microplastic pollution; as well as deploying surface drifter buoys and Argo floats; marine megafauna protection; and researching ocean biodiversity. Collected data is open-source and shared with the Race’s science partners, feeding into reports that inform and influence climate policy and targets.

Strategies have been developed and implemented in Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP),to achieve a critical balance between newly discovered oil for extraction and maintaining the extensive biodiversity in the area. National agencies,companies and PA managers jointly developed strict guidelines which must be adhered to during the exploration phase and beyond. Biodiversity surveys and mapping and biodiversity surveys helped identify sensitive areas avoid.

The Event Book System is an example of sustainable Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) used in many communal conservancies throughout Namibia, which allows communities to contribute to decision making in natural resource management. The main contributing factors facilitating sustainable CBNRM programmes include community involvement, multi-level implementation, simplification and standardization of methods and motivation of local community members.

Through a deliberate strategy of getting Parliament votes and media attention, the Murray Darling Basin Plan was passed through Federal Parliament in 2013. The Darling River is one of the largest in Australia and runs from north to south. The Darling River flows into the Murray River and had been reduced to a trickle at the mouth due to big ag’s water usage for irrigation. A consortium of community members spent 10 years getting this plan passed.

The high ecological importance of the three islands of Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia located in the heart of the Coral Triangle Center is used for developing a MPA learning site. It addresses the lack of formalization of natural resource management and inadequate protection of marine biodiversity with main institutional strategies to foster platforms for on-the-ground learning and sharing of knowledge and skills about tropical marine conservation.

As coastal development increases in Brazil, artisanal fishers struggle to protect their resources. By leveraging the government-created Extractive Reserves’ (RESEXs) legal structure and working with government, local fishers’ organizations, and communities, Rare’s Fish Forever program in Brazil has 1) established community-led governance and authority over artisanal fisheries; 2) designated managed-access fishing areas, combined with no-take reserves; and 3) improved participation of fishers and communitiy members in fisheries management and decision-making.