Marine protected areas for whales, dolphins, and porpoises: a world ...

Ocean Sanctuaries, Marine Reserves or Parks? 51
The UN Agreement on • The full title of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement is ‘The United Nations Agreement for the • web: www.un.org/Depts/los/
Straddling Fish Stocks (1995) Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea convention_agreements/
World Ocean: national waters to of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks convention_overview_fish_stocks.htm
EEZ limits and high seas and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks’. It builds upon and fills gaps in UNCLOS to manage fish
species throughout their range between EEZs and the high seas, or migrating over long
distances in the high seas. It recognizes the ‘biological unity of the stocks’.
• Article 6 emphasizes the precautionary approach or principle and insists that states act with
protective management to ensure that fish stocks are not damaged. One of the recognized
ways to apply the precautionary approach is through MPAs.
• The agreement came into force in December 2001.
Unesco Man and the • Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) was set up through the United Nations • Batisse (1990); Unesco (1974)
Biosphere Programme (MAB) Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) • web: www.unesco.org/mab/
World Ocean: national waters to • Biosphere reserves provide a valuable model for MPA conservation by combining the
EEZ limits and possibly high seas conservation, logistic and development roles and by using a combination of highly
protected IUCN Category I core areas, along with surrounding areas which integrate the
needs of local populations and are less protected, transition areas.
• Originally envisioned for land-based protected areas, biosphere reserves now include
marine areas. Some sites have protected cetacean habitat.
United Nations Conference on • Called ‘Earth’s Action Plan’, Agenda 21 is a practical manual and blueprint for sustainable • web: http://habitat.igc.org/
Environment and Development – development negotiated and adopted by all participating states at the UN Conference on agenda21/index.htm
UNCED: Agenda 21 Environment and Development (UNCED), in June 1992.
World Ocean: national waters to • Chapter 17, on the protection of the oceans, calls on states to undertake measures to
EEZ limits and high seas maintain biological diversity and productivity of marine species under national jurisdiction,
including establishing and managing protected areas. It also calls for states to conserve
marine living resources on the high seas, specifying the protection and restoration of
endangered marine species and the preservation of habitats and other ecologically sensitive
areas.
• According to de Fontaubert (2001), ‘Agenda 21 may well be the most important soft-law
instrument that recognizes the possibility of enacting MPAs on the high seas.’