A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

138 MARINE AND COASTAL
PROTECTED AREAS
Photo by Erkki Siirila.
FIGURE I-55.
Researcher from the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute
(CANARI) performs a photographic reef assessment in the
Soufriere Marine Management Area, St.Lucia.
Effectiveness of Control. The
implementing agency must hold full
control over management of the protected
area. If legislation for control
cannot be achieved, a special agreement
between the owner and the responsible
agency may allow effective conservation
management of the area, an alternative
that is being tested is the provision of
access rights or resource ownership
given in return for management responsibility.
Revenue. The revenues from
certain types of use, notably tourism,
are an important source of income to
many parks and protected areas. But
care should be taken that parks and
protected areas do not become excessively
dependent on these revenues,
since this could result in a bias toward
revenue activities and away from habitat
protection (Box I-17). It would be
desirable for much of the financial
assistance for park management to come
from the local government, with the
local government and people also
retaining the largest share of tourism and other revenues. It is becoming more
common for MPAs to be self-sustaining, mostly from user fees (see Cases 7 and 11
in Part III).
It is important to note that the institutional arrangements selected will actually
depend on the purpose of the MPA. Each MPA will vary in size and set-up, depending
on whether it aims to protect a critical ecosystem, a traditional activity, tourism
development or an important breeding or feeding ground. The key to the establishment
of the MPA is that it represents a compromise between the uses that are permitted
therein and the degree of protection afforded the resources. Depending then on the
uses that will be permitted, different institutional structures become appropriate. The
Authority in charge needs to balance conflicting interests and establish the required
degree of protection, thus restricting uses that were customary prior to the enactment
of the MPA. As a result of the diagnosis stage, MPA managers will have a better sense
of what uses are already taking place in the area to be protected and will assess whether
these uses are sustainable or not (Box I-18).