Evaluating the evidence for ecological effectiveness of South Africa’s marine protected areas (original) (raw)

2021, African Journal of Marine Science

The biodiversity and ecological integrity of many marine ecosystems are being threatened (Worm et al. 2006; O'Hara et al. 2019). For this reason, many marine habitats, species and ecosystem functions have been granted protection from human pressures in marine protected areas (MPAs), a tool that is increasingly favoured as a response to declines in marine biodiversity (Beaugrand et al. 2015; McCauley et al. 2015). The Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD's) definition of a marine and coastal protected area is "any confined area within or adjacent to the marine environment, together with its overlying waters and associated flora, fauna, and historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by legislation or other effective means, including custom, with the effect that its marine and/or coastal biodiversity enjoys a higher level of protection than its surroundings" (CBD 2004, p 2). Many