Marine and Coastal Protected Areas - A Guide for Planners and Managers (Third Edition)

Approaches to planning and managing marine protected areas (MPAs) have evolved considerably since the first edition of this book was published in 1984. The original version arose from the Workshop on Managing Coastal and Marine Protected Areas, held in October 1982 during the World Congress on National Parks in Bali, Indonesia. A second edition was printed in 1989, with minor revisions. This second edition was exhausted several years ago, but demand for the book remained high. However, as so much has changed over the past 15 years, and so many new lessons have been learned, there is evident need for a major update. This Third Edition answers that demand.

Even today, some 15 years later, the feedback we have received is that the book is a practical tool with an applied, “hands-on,” viewpoint. This was the book’s original intention and remains the main goal of this revision. It is still intended as a guide for people who find themselves with mandates to plan individual or national systems of marine protected areas (MPAs), or both, and need a philosophical context for marine protected areas along with some basic principles and approaches to establish them. Wherever possible, case studies are used to illustrate points or processes by “real world” examples. We would like to think that practitioners today will find this version as useful as our counterparts and colleagues did the original “Orange Book” during the past many years.

The book derives from many sources, including the 1982 Bali Workshop papers and summary reports of session chairs and rapporteurs. The participants of the workshop remain contributors to this version of the book. It is heartening to find how relevant these original outputs are today. But the field of conservation science and theory have evolved enormously over the past two decades, which has been a period of catch-up for marine protected areas with those on land.