Box 3: Marine protected areas

To gain a better understanding of the actual protection afforded reefs in the region, the Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean Project asked experts to evaluate the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Particularly with the growth of tourism and fisheries in coral reef areas, MPAs are an important management tool for conserving coral reefs. Many Caribbean nations have established parks or protected areas to safeguard marine biodiversity while helping to maintain economically important marine resources. [a] The Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean Project identified 285 designated MPAs across the 35 states and territories of the Caribbean region (see Appendix A: Physical, Social, Economic Statistics for the Caribbean Region, Table A5: Management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Wider Caribbean).

Because compiling detailed information on a region-wide basis is very difficult, the MPAs were assessed on only four broad criteria: existence of management activity, existence of a management plan, availability of resources, and extent of enforcement. Combined, these criteria were used to generate a simple measure of management effectiveness. Of the 285 parks, only 6 percent were rated as effectively managed and an additional 13 percent were judged to have partially effective management. Nearly half were rated as having an inadequate level of management and, therefore, offered little protection to the resources they were designed to protect. The level of management was unknown for about one-third. This lack of information most likely reflects a deficiency in human and financial resources. Thus, although about 20 percent of the region