A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

218 MARINE AND COASTAL
PROTECTED AREAS
Photo by C. Zuber, courtesy of World Wide Fund for Nature.
beach and of nutrients from sea to land by birds. Reefs also protect coralline islands
from erosion by waves. Certain species mate, roost, rest, nest, or pup on land but feed
at sea. Both the terrestrial and marine critical habitats of such species require
protection. Protection of offshore areas is especially important along turtle nesting
beaches, since turtles congregate and mate there and feed and shelter on fringing reefs
or grass and algal beds (Figure II-35).
FIGURE II-35.
Sooty terns (Sterna fuscata) are an island nesting species that
congregates in colonies of up to many hundreds of
thousands of individuals.
Protected areas on both uninhabited
and populated islands can often be
linked to areas or structures that have
historical or cultural value. Entire
islands may have been set aside for
religious purposes and the harvest of
island or adjacent marine resources
strictly controlled by taboos. These
naturally protected sites may often
have a high conservation value.
Protecting islands with breeding
seabirds, marine mammals, and turtle
nesting beaches requires particular
care and presents difficulties, especially
where the breeding and nesting sites
are easily accessible by boat. Where appropriate, visitors should be restricted by
number, by season, by time of day, and to specific points at the periphery of the colony.
New lands formed by uplifting, or by emergence of submarine volcanoes,
provide a unique opportunity for research into geological, geomorphological, ecological,
and successional processes. They merit recognition for their scientific value and
should be protected.
Supply of freshwater is often a critical factor limiting the carrying capacity of
islands, whether for islanders or tourists. Great care should be taken to avoid depleting
island water resources at the expense of native flora.
Garbage and waste disposal are severe problems for islands generally, and for
tourist resorts and recreation areas in particular, especially because of the excessively
packaged goods of developed societies.
On islands, as on continents, problems of nature conservation are largely (and
inevitably) problems of land use, as noted by Wace (1982). Especially on small
islands, land is a resource of prime importance.
It must be recognized that especially on small inhabited islands or remote
populated islands people are a central part of the island ecosystem. Protection of areas
in the traditional sense (i.e., by exclusion of people) may be impossible. Habitat
protection is best achieved by managing islanders’ activities rather than by managing