Contributions of marine area-based management tools to the UN sustainable development goals

Area-Based Management Tools (ABMTs) are spatial instruments for conservation and managing different forms of ocean use. A multitude of ABMTs exists in marine areas within and beyond national jurisdiction, ranging from tools for the regulation of specific human activities (e.g. fisheries, shipping, or mining) to cross-sectoral tools (e.g. such as marine protected areas, MPAs, and marine spatial planning, MSP). By applying expert elicitation and reviewing scientific and grey literature we evaluate the contribution of ABMTs to sustainable development goals (SDGs) as set out under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including for SDG 14 that directly addresses the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas, and marine resources. We find that fisheries-related and conservation-related ABMTs, and MSP offer the greatest potential contributions to SDG 14 and to SDGs in general. Moreover, there is high complementarity and synergy among different ABMTs for most SDG 14 targets and other SDGs, with the exception of SDG target 14.6 Prohibit fisheries subsidies and SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy. We find that some ABMTs contribute directly to goal attainment, while others contribute in more nuanced or even unexpected ways. Furthermore, context-specific factors that relate to political and legal factors, enforceability, transparency, governance structure, and inclusivity are crucial for unlocking the full potential of ABMTs of attaining multiple SDGs, as shown through examples. The major challenge to face in the next decade is ensuring durable and equitable outcomes from ABMT implementation by coordinating ABMT initiatives established by different organisations and responsible authorities. It is also critical that outcomes are monitored and evaluated across environmental, social, economic, governance, and health dimensions, with indicators addressing management effectiveness and not only ABMT area coverage.
This research was conducted in the framework of COST action on “Ocean Governance for Sustainability - challenges, options and the role of science”, CA15217, within the Working Group 2 “Area Based Management” activities. We would like to thank COST for the funding that made the cooperation amongst the authors, and thus this article, possible. EG partially acknowledges also funding from PORTODIMARE “geoPORtal of TOols & Data for sustaInable Management of coAstal and maRine Environment” (2018–2020), Adriatic-Ionian Programme INTERREG V–B Transnational 2014–2020, grant no. 205, and funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 893614-4, reflecting only the author's view ; AQ partially acknowledges the Project SIMAtlantic (grant no. EASME/EMFF/2018/1.2.1.5); MLF partially acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), with a Do*Mar programme PhD grant (PD/BD/113485/2015); MM partially acknowledges FCT, with a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/138422/2018). AQ, FA, MLF, LS, MM, CP partially acknowledge the financial support to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020), through national funds. CFS partially acknowledges funding from FCT research contract 2020.03704.CEECIND, research grant PTDC/CTA-AMB/30226/2017, and MARE strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2019. NV partially acknowledges also funding from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, grants no. CNCS-UEFISCDI PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-2491, PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1444, and the project T4BS (grant no. EASME/EMFF/2019/863621). The work of CP was supported by FCT research contract 2020.02510.CEECIND. The work of BN and SU was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through its Research for Sustainable Development program (FONA), and the Federal State of Brandenburg.