Conserving the Oceans

Conserving the Oceans: The Politics of Large Marine Protected Areas documents the efforts of activists and states to increase the pace and scale of global ocean protections, leading to a new global norm in ocean conservation of large marine protected areas (MPAs) exceeding 200,000 km2. Through an analysis of domestic political economies, the book explains how states have protected millions of square kilometers of ocean space while remaining highly responsive to the interests of businesses. It argues that states design environmental policies above all around two key features of a given space: (1) the composition of extractive versus non-extractive industry interests; and (2) the salience of various industry interests, defined as the degree to which businesses would suffer tangible and significant costs in response to new environmental regulations. Through an analysis of large MPA advocacy campaigns in Australia, Palau, and the US, this book demonstrates how the political economy of a given marine space shapes how governments align their environmental and economic goals, sometimes strengthening conservation but more often than not undermining it. While recognizing important global progress and growing ambition to conserve ocean ecosystems, Conserving the Oceans demonstrates that even ambitious large MPAs have so far not fundamentally challenged a neoliberal paradigm of environmentalism that has caused considerable ecological harm.