Governing Marine Protected Areas in a Changing Climate: Private Stakeholders’ Perspectives

Abstract

Climate change has become one of the most pressing problems for both nature and human lives.Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are part of a “natural solution” to climate change. Most of existingMPAs are governed by government agencies rather than private stakeholders such as NGOs,local communities and for-profit enterprises. Nevertheless, with the global push to create MPAs,the number of privately governed MPAs is expected to increase. In this context, this paper aims toinvestigate the role of private stakeholders in enhancing the governance effectiveness of MPAs soas to improve their capability to counter any adverse impact brought by the changing climate. Afteranalysis, the strengths and weaknesses of the practice of each category of private stakeholders areuncovered and specific recommendations are proposed to promote the future practice. With theincreasing number of privately governed MPAs in the future, this paper serves as a starting pointand contributes to the literature on the study of the private governance of MPAs in the context ofthe changing climate.