The Marine Management Area Science Program has identified the following key messages emerging from our 45 scientific studies around the world.

People Benefit from Conservation
The oceans provide a wealth of services that directly benefit human wellbeing. With over half the world’s population living within 100 kilometers of a coast, 20 of the 30 largest cities in the world on a coast, and growing access to remote areas, there are tremendous connections between human wellbeing and the marine environment. In particular, the oceans provide the several marine ecosystem services, such as:

• food security,
• recreational opportunities,
• shoreline protection, and
• climate regulation.

Marine Managed Areas (MMAs) have become an increasingly popular tool to manage these valuable resources. Analysis of MMA experiences worldwide has found signficant human wellbeing benefits, including:

• more diversified livelihoods,
• improved household income,
• greater food security,
• improved human health,
• enhanced community empowerment, and
• reduced user conflicts.

However, MMAs are not without their challenges, which include inequitable benefits, lost access to fishing groups, insufficient sustainable technical capacity and unmet expectations. To address these issues and ensure human wellbeing benefits, effective MMAs depend on key socioeconomic and governance conditions, including strong community leadership and organizations, alternative livelihood opportunities, the perception that benefits exceed costs, support of external institutions, accountable management and supportive local government.

Economic Incentives Motivate People
Marine resource managers increasingly are turning to incentive-based approaches to encourage local resource users to change behaviors that adversely impact biodiversity and natural habitat. Three approaches to providing economic incentives to conserve natural resources are

• buyouts: purchase of resource rights or equipment, such as fishing licences;
• conservation agreements: direct compensation for behavior changes, such as covering teacher salaries as long as a no-take zone is observed; and
• alternative livelihoods: income from new, nondestructive livelihoods to replace unsustainable practices, such as ecotourism businesses to replace dynamite-based fishing.

These tools are used by conservation investors (e.g., non-government organizations, government, private sector) to shift resource users (e.g., local residents, fishermen, developers) from destructive to sustainable practices. Successful interventions appear to combine elements of all three approaches. Given that most marine conservation efforts involve the reduction of certain activities by resource users, other economic opportunities are needed to drive socioeconomic development, indicating that an alternative livelihoods component often must be part of overall strategy. The direct incentive offered by buyouts can produce a quick, measurable reduction in harvesting pressure, thereby addressing the principal threat to biodiversity and ecosystem values. Finally, the conservation agreement approach is built on a stream of benefits over time, such that the incentive for resource users to support conservation is sustained.