The benefits of marine protected areas - technical paper

About this document

This document was prepared for discussion as a component of the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress - Marine Theme held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2003.

The document discusses issues such as: why do we need Marine Protected Areas; what are the benefits of preserving biodiversity and ecosystem processes; the benefits that Marine Protected Areas bring to fisheries and tourism, and the importance of Marine Protected Areas for education, training, heritage, culture and research.

A number of case studies are included in the document to demonstrate the benefits of Marine Protected Areas.

A hard copy publication entitled The Benefits of Marine Protected Areas was also produced for the World Parks Congress which summarises the issues described in this document.