A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

PART I
Institutional and Legal Framework
Financial aspects. Financing for coastal and marine protected areas should be
identified or referenced in the legislation according to general practice. In addition,
possibilities should be investigated for establishing special funds whereby revenue
from these areas, for example from tourism, might be directed back to the protected
area programme or to projects for local people without being deposited in or transiting
through the national treasury.
International coordination. Legislation and policy for marine protected areas
must take into account any international, regional, or other multilateral treaties of
which the country is or will likely be a member. The legislation and corresponding
institutional programmes should be consistent with present or possible multilateral
commitments and obligations.
Levels of integration. Co-ordination and intergovernmental planning of protected
marine areas is needed at four levels: (1) the transnational level where areas are located
at an international border or next to an international zone, or where species protected
in one country naturally migrate to critical habitat inside other national boundaries;
(2) the national level, for general co-ordination with other development plans and policy;
(3) the level of the marine programme, where different areas may need to be
coordinated (regardless of whether they are operated through one mechanism); and
(4) the specific activity level, where local level sector plans and activities and community
interests require harmonization and collaboration.
Form and content of legislation. The form and content of legislation must
depend on the legal, institutional, and social practices and values of the nations and
peoples enacting and governed by the legislation.
Policy formulation. Each country should develop special policy on marine
protected areas, as was done by Parks Canada (Parks Canada, 1983) and South
Africa (Marine Reserves Task Group, 1997). This should be done at the national level
for the country programme as a whole, at any appropriate sub-national level, and for
each marine protected area. At each level policy should be based on ecological
principles and also on economic, social, and political factors. Such policy should be
an integral part of comprehensive economic and development policy.
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