The Skimmer: A brief primer on marine litter and ocean plastics
The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific knowledge on marine litter and ocean plastics. It is based in part on a longer, more detailed article from November 2017 by MPA News’ affiliated service Marine Ecosystems and Management (MEAM). If you are...
Perspective | The MPAs of Central America (second of three articles): Challenges faced, including the emergence of well-financed criminal groups
By Carlos A. Espinosa and Néstor J. Windevoxhel
The challenges facing coastal and marine protected areas in Central America remain as serious as ever. And in some ways they are getting worse.
From the editor: Why MPA News said large MPAs were a necessity to meet Aichi Target 11
In last month’s MPA News, we examined the ongoing debate over the value of large vs. small MPAs: whether MPA designations should focus on large offshore sites or smaller inshore ones. This debate has been going on for many years, and we’ve reported on aspects of it...
MPA Training in a Nutshell: On building MPA social networks
By Anne Nelson
The effective management of MPA networks requires an array of elements. These include having adequate technical capacity of site managers, good science, committed leadership at multiple levels (sites, agencies, and policy makers), shared goals among MPAs, and monitoring of the network’s ecological effectiveness.
Importantly, it also requires good connectivity among site managers – in other words, a social network.