This paper argues for the application of Risk Society (Ulrich Beck & Anthony Giddens) and Social Resilience (Fikret Berkes & Carl Folke) theories in the social impact assessment (SIA) of proposed marine protected areas (MPAs). The former theory is the most cited social theory in Europe and has been found to explain worldwide human responses to proposed projects. The latter theory brings to the SIA of MPAs proven notions from human ecology. This paper is based on an on-going assessment of proposed MPA effects in the Bahamas and the growing literature on MPAs.

These three talks present a summary of key findings from socio-ecological research conducted in Buen Hombre, the Dominican Republic.

These photographs offer illustrations of the people, places and resources in the six communities visited during the Bahamas Biocomplexity project.

In the late 1980s and through the mid-1990s, Mexico underwent an enormous neoliberal transformation that affected almost every level of its economic, political, and social systems. Research has shown that rural and poor areas of Mexico have been particularly hard hit by these transformations. At the same point in time, Mexico established an unprecedented number of natural protected areas - national parks, biosphere reserves, wildlife reserves, and the like. Mexico is not alone in this transformation. Other "less industrialized" countries are also implementing these dual policies.While many working in the field of conservation in less industrialized regions assume little connection between their work in natural protected areas and the larger political economy, I argue that the two are interrelated and have compounding outcomes. The goal of this study is to understand the connection between these two seemingly incongruous policies. In addition, this study seeks to understand the process through which natural protected areas were territorialized and the outcomes of this territorialization process on landscapes and livelihoods within the larger context of Mexico's neoliberal reformation.To understand these questions, I look at Mexico as a case study at the national level as well as two more local case studies - the Loreto Bay National Park (LBNP) in Baja California Sur and Cuatro Ciénegas Wildlife Reserve (CCWR) in Coahuila, Mexico. Both areas support the neoliberal agenda, although in different ways. In addition, both are being reterritorialized so that nature is separated from society and treated as a marketable commodity through tourism or privatization. In addition, both have created uneven or patchy regional landscapes in which resources are more heavily extracted outside of reserves (due largely to neoliberal reforms) while inside the reserves small-scale production activities are limited.

Recently adopted global marine protection targets aim to protect 10-30% of marine habitats within the next 3 to 5 years. However, these targets were adopted without prior assessment of their attainability. Moreover, our ability to monitor progress towards such targets has been constrained by a lack of robust data on marine protected areas (MPAs). In this thesis I present the results of the first explicitly marine-focused, global assessment of MPAs in relation to three global marine protection targets. Approximately 2.35 million km2, equivalent to 0.65% of the world’s oceans, are currently protected, and only 12% of that is ‘no-take’. Over the last two decades, the marine area protected globally has grown at ~5% per year. At this rate, even the most modest target is unlikely to be met for at least several decades. The utility of large-scale conservation targets has been repeatedly questioned, although mainly on ecological grounds. However, if, as is suggested here, their primary role is to motivate behavioural change, then a more serious problem is that they seem to be failing in this regard, too. I explore possible reasons for this and suggest two main problems: firstly, an as yet unmet need to develop a hierarchical system of targets that reflects the multi-scale and pluralistic nature of ecological and political systems; and secondly, feedback mechanisms between political will, perceived attainability, and target formulation which may impede implementation of the targets. Since the adoption of the global targets, no implementation strategy has been developed, which may also impede target attainment. In order to fill this gap, I applied a rarity-complementarity heuristic place prioritisation algorithm (PPA) to a dataset consisting of 1038 global species distributions with 0.5° latitude/longitude resolution, under ten scenarios devised to reflect the global targets. This is the first time that species distribution ranges of marine species have been used in a globally synthetic way, and is by far the largest application of a PPA to date. Global priority areas for protection are identified for each scenario, which may be used to identify where regional-scale protected areas network design efforts might be focused.

<p>At a meeting of worl leaders at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, it was recognized that because of the tremendous increase in the size of the global populations (which now is estimated to exceed six billion), there were concerns that global biodiversity was at risk if insufficient land were not put aside for conservation within formal Protected Areas. The primary aim of this study was to compare investment in Protected Areas in relation to socio-economic conditions at global and regional levels.</p>

Four geographic information system methods were applied to determine connectivity and fragmentation for a corridor from Riding Mountain National Park to Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Forest. Least-cost path modelling showed that presently there is no corridor of continuous forest or corridor of undeveloped land between these two areas, of which developed land appears to fragment all possible paths. Maps generated from spatial graphs and least-cost path modelling show that undisturbed land and forest is concentrated in the western Bluewing Corridor. Due to its greater connectivity, the Bluewing corridor is the preferred route for a corridor between these conservation areas.

Over the next three decades, there are many predicted disturbances to Earth’s oceans, such as El Nino and hurricanes, which will lead to mass coral bleaching effects. Marine protected areas have been utilized worldwide to maintain coral population sizes and remediate external stressors, such as overfishing or mining. Using a series of modeling techniques, this thesis will propose an experiment that will determine the optimal distance and location for a future MPA in New Zealand. It will also be measuring whether one large reserve or a network of smaller MPAs are more effective in the regeneration of stony corals. These models will be based on Solemosmilia variabilis, the most common stony coral in the region. Based on past studies, it is hypothesized that there will be a significant positive increase with the metapopulation growth of corals in both protected areas. It is also predicted that there will be a higher rate of connectivity within a network of smaller marine protected areas if the MPAs are less than 2 km apart. If the distance is greater, one larger MPA will be more effective due to the lower rates of genetic drift.

Four geographic information system methods were applied to determine connectivity and fragmentation for a corridor from Riding Mountain National Park to Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Forest. Least-cost path modelling showed that presently there is no corridor of continuous forest or corridor of undeveloped land between these two areas, of which developed land appears to fragment all possible paths. Maps generated from spatial graphs and least-cost path modelling show that undisturbed land and forest is concentrated in the western Bluewing Corridor. Due to its greater connectivity, the Bluewing corridor is the preferred route for a corridor between these conservation areas.

Although international law requires States to protect the marine environment and conserve marine living resources, human activities are still threatening marine species and its survival. In view of limited scientific knowledge of marine ecosystems, fragility of ecosystems and insufficient mechanisms of protection, marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction is at risk. Increasing attention has been given to the need to conserve this important and vulnerable biodiversity. The international community has begun to recognize the importance of marine protected areas (MPAs) as key tool to ensure sustainable use and preservation of biodiversity. However, the adequacy of the current legal framework related to the conservation of marine biodiversity through the establishing of high seas MPAs raises debates. Disagreements about the existence of inadequacies and need for an implementing agreement remain. My study seeks to determine whether the international legal framework is adequate for the establishment of MPAs or whether further measures are required.