Protected Area Law in Seychelles: Legal Complexity in a Micro-jurisdiction

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika J. Techera
Keyword(s):  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Environmental Pressures ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Blue Economy ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Area Law

AbstractSeychelles is a small island nation with large maritime areas. It has an enviable natural environment and significant endemic biodiversity, both of which are at risk due to environmental pressures. Seychelles has been an active participant at the global level, ratifying a number of environmental treaties and leading blue economy developments. Nevertheless, its size and developing country status calls into question Seychelles’ ability to meet its goals. This issue is particularly pressing given the recent debt swap arrangement and commitment to establish marine protected areas across thirty percent of its exclusive economic zone. Relatively little legal research has been published in relation to Seychelles’ environmental laws. This article contributes to the literature by examining Seychelles’ area-based protection laws focusing particularly on the marine environment. The article analyses the legal frameworks and explores the extent to which these will enable Seychelles to meet its blue economy and marine conservation goals.

scholarly journals “Large Ocean States”: Sovereignty, Small Islands, and Marine Protected Areas in Global Oceans Governance

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Chan
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Small Island ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Responsibility ◽  
Island States ◽  
Small Island States

Abstract Small island states are typically portrayed as vulnerable and insignificant actors in international affairs. This article traces the emerging self-identification of “large ocean states” that these small island states in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are now employing, juxtaposing their miniscule landmass and populations with the possession of sovereign authority over large swathes of the world’s oceans. Such authority is increasingly being exercised in the context of biodiversity conservation through expanding marine protected areas (an element of both the Sustainable Development Goals and the Aichi Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity) as an expression of “ecological responsibility.” This new exercise of green sovereignty reinforces state control over spaces previously governed only at a distance, but control made possible only through compromises with nonstate actors to fund, monitor, and govern these MPAs.

Incentives for marine conservation: options for small island developing states

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 440-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduard Niesten ◽  
Heidi Gjertsen ◽  
Patrick S. Fong
Keyword(s):  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small Island Developing States ◽  
Alternative Livelihoods ◽  
Alternative Livelihood ◽  
The World ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Impact On Biodiversity ◽  
Conservation Interventions

AbstractConservation practitioners are increasingly turning to incentive-based approaches to encourage local resource users to change behaviors that impact on biodiversity and natural habitat. Three such approaches are buyouts, conservation agreements and alternative livelihoods. We assess the design and performance of these types of marine conservation interventions through an analysis of 27 case studies from around the world. Here we focus on cases that are particularly relevant to designing incentives for Small Island Developing States. Many more opportunities exist for interventions that combine the strengths of these approaches, such as through performance-based agreements that provide funds for education or alternative livelihood development.

Oceanographic connectivity among marine protected areas on the north coast of British Columbia, Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1350-1362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford LK Robinson ◽  
John Morrison ◽  
Michael GG Foreman
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Particle Dispersion ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Ocean Current ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Conservation Area ◽  
The North

The main objective of our study was to use a three-dimensional oceanographic simulation model to understand connectivity among the proposed Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area (GHNMCA) and 10 other proposed or existing marine protected areas (MPAs) on the north Pacific coast of Canada. The simulations were conducted using passive particles placed at three depths and vertically migrating particles for 30 or 90 days in late winter. Simulated surface particle dispersion was found to be consistent with winter ocean current observations made from analysis of satellite imagery, current mooring, and drifter data. The GHNMCA would contribute to a network of MPAs because it supplies and receives particles from other MPAs in northern British Columbia. Model simulations also indicate that the greatest source of particles to GHNMCA originate from 30-m and not 2-m flows. Finally, the simulated mean daily dispersal rate of 2.0 km·day–1 would allow fish and invertebrates to self-seed northern portions of the GHNMCA in winter. Together, the GHNMCA and other MPAs appear to contribute a large percentage of particles to non-MPA regions in northern Hecate Strait, which may be considered a particle sink in winter.

scholarly journals Navigating a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Marine Spatial Planning ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
Ocean Governance ◽  
Blue Economy

The ocean is the next frontier for many conservation and development activities. Growth in marine protected areas, fisheries management, the blue economy, and marine spatial planning initiatives are occurring both within and beyond national jurisdictions. This mounting activity has coincided with increasing concerns about sustainability and international attention to ocean governance. Yet, despite growing concerns about exclusionary decision-making processes and social injustices, there remains inadequate attention to issues of social justice and inclusion in ocean science, management, governance and funding. In a rapidly changing and progressively busier ocean, we need to learn from past mistakes and identify ways to navigate a just and inclusive path towards sustainability. Proactive attention to inclusive decision-making and social justice is needed across key ocean policy realms including marine conservation, fisheries management, marine spatial planning, the blue economy, climate adaptation and global ocean governance for both ethical and instrumental reasons. This discussion paper aims to stimulate greater engagement with these critical topics. It is a call to action for ocean-focused researchers, policy-makers, managers, practitioners, and funders.

scholarly journals Policy pivot in Puget Sound: Lessons learned from marine protected areas and tribally-led estuarine restoration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Christie ◽  
David Fluharty ◽  
Haley Kennard ◽  
Richard Pollnac ◽  
Brad Warren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Environmental Pressures

Environmental change amplifies the challenge of protecting and restoring Puget Sound. As rising pressures from population growth, development, unsustainable resource use, climate impacts and other factors alter this urbanizing basin, efforts to recover salmon and ecosystem health and to enhance climate resilience face unprecedented social complexities and intensifying competition for space. A multi-method study of citizen and practitioner perspectives on protection and restoration suggests that capacity to manage under these conditions can be improved through strengthening an approach that has already become central in restoration practice: multiple-benefit planning. In this research, we examine and compare planning approaches used to develop marine protected areas (MPA) and estuary restoration (ER) projects in Puget Sound. Surveying non-tribal public attitudes toward these projects, we found limited knowledge concerning existing MPAs but support for wider use of such protections. We find that initiatives pursuing conservation, protection, restoration and resilience can gain advantage from (a) broadly inclusive and collaborative planning; (b) recognition of tribal treaty rights, management authorities, and leadership; (c) careful consideration and mitigation of project impacts on affected people (e.g. especially tribal and non-tribal fisheries for MPAs; farm interests and landowners for restoration projects). We note that “no-take” MPA designation has stalled, while ER efforts are overcoming sharp objections and controversies by crafting projects to deliver multiple social-ecological benefits: improved flood control and drainage, salmon recovery, recreational enjoyment, and resilience to climate change. Comparable strategies have not yet evolved in designation of “no-take” MPAs in Puget Sound. We offer conclusions and recommendations for accelerating conservation and resilience initiatives to keep pace with a changing environment. A key human dimensions research-based recommendation is that increasing environmental pressures intensify the need to strengthen collaborative and sustained planning and implementation processes.

scholarly journals Comparing the Performance of Four Very Large Marine Protected Areas with Different Levels of Protection

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9572
Author(s):  
Veronica Relano ◽  
Maria Lourdes Deng Palomares ◽  
Daniel Pauly
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Fishing The Line ◽  
Different Levels

In the last decades, several targets for marine conservation were set to counter the effects of increasing fishing pressure, e.g., protecting 10% of the sea by 2020, and establishing large-scale marine protected areas (LSMPAs). Using the ‘reconstructed’ catch data for 1950 to 2018 made available by the Sea Around Us initiative, we show that the declaration of an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in 1983 by the U.S.A. and its protection by the U.S. Coast Guard had a much bigger impact on catches around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands than the subsequent creation of a LSMPA. This is similar to Pitcairn Islands, a UK territory. Trends differed sharply in the Galapagos and New Caledonia, where neither their EEZ declaration nor the LSMPA (by Ecuador in 1988 and by France in 2014) stopped local fisheries from continuous expansion. Our results also demonstrate that in the studied multizone LSMPAs continued local fishing induces a ‘fishing down’ effect wherein the mean trophic level (TL) declined, especially in the Galapagos, by 0.1 TL per decade. Stakeholders’ responses to a short questionnaire and satellite imagery lent support to these results in that they documented substantial fishing operations and ‘fishing the line’ within and around multizone LSMPAs. In the case of EEZs around less populated or unpopulated islands, banning foreign fishing may reduce catch much more than a subsequent LSMPA declaration. This confirms that EEZs are a tool for coastal countries to protect their marine biodiversity and that allowing fishing in an MPA, while politically convenient, may result in ‘paper parks’ within which fishing can cause the same deleterious effects as in wholly unprotected areas.

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